The ‘reproducibility crisis’ in science appears to be a widespread problem that may have its roots in the ‘publish or perish’ culture of the contemporary academy. Facilitated by a well-developed culture of data sharing, in astrophysics opportunities to reproduce or replicate published results have been part of the field’s fabric for many decades. The valuable lessons learned from this small discipline could easily be rolled out to other data-rich disciplines. This essay aims at triggering more extensive discussion of the numerous advantages of data sharing and responsible research attitudes.