Researchers cannot extract data from published academic graphs to verify or build upon findings

Academic researchers frequently encounter published graphs without access to the underlying data tables, making it impossible to verify results, conduct meta-analyses, or build upon existing work. Authors often refuse to share raw data due to proprietary concerns, institutional policies, or simple non-responsiveness, forcing researchers to waste time attempting manual data extraction or abandoning their research direction entirely. Current solutions like FOIA requests and institutional pressure are slow, unreliable, and don't address the core issue of inaccessible scientific data.