1. Purpose and Scope
The journal supports transparency, reproducibility, and responsible access to the data underlying published research.
This policy establishes the journal’s requirements concerning Data Availability Statements, public data sharing, repositories, data citation, restricted or sensitive data, data available upon reasonable request, third-party data, and editorial assessment of data availability.
The policy applies to manuscripts reporting original research or original analyses of data.
2. General Principle
Research data supporting the findings of a published article should be made available to readers and other researchers whenever this can be done responsibly and without violating applicable ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property, security, contractual, or other legitimate restrictions.
The journal does not require all research data to be made publicly available in every circumstance.
Where public sharing is not possible or appropriate, the conditions governing access must be transparently described.
3. Data Availability Statement
All manuscripts reporting original research or original analyses of data must include a Data Availability Statement.
The statement must indicate, as applicable:
- whether the data supporting the findings are publicly available;
- where the data can be accessed;
- the name of the repository or other data source;
- a persistent identifier or stable link, where available;
- whether data are available upon reasonable request;
- any conditions or restrictions governing access;
- why data cannot be publicly shared, where applicable;
- whether no new data were generated or analyzed.
The Data Availability Statement must accurately reflect the actual availability of the underlying data at the time of publication.
The Data Availability Statement is published as an identifiable part of the article and should remain consistent across the article HTML, PDF, and structured metadata, where applicable.
4. Public Data Sharing and Repositories
Where appropriate to the nature of the research, authors are encouraged to deposit research data in a recognized disciplinary, institutional, general-purpose, or other suitable repository.
Where a repository is used, authors should provide the repository name and a persistent identifier, DOI, accession number, or stable URL where available.
Repository deposition is particularly encouraged where:
- data are necessary to reproduce or verify the reported findings;
- disciplinary standards normally require deposition;
- the data have an established public repository;
- funder, institutional, regulatory, or legal requirements require sharing;
- public availability materially improves the transparency or reuse of the research.
Where repository deposition is appropriate, authors should prefer repositories that provide stable access, persistent identifiers, appropriate metadata, and clear terms governing access and reuse.
Personal websites or temporary file-sharing services should not normally be used as substitutes for suitable research-data repositories.
The journal does not prescribe a single repository for all research disciplines.
5. Data Citation
Publicly available datasets that materially support the findings of an article should be cited in the manuscript, where appropriate, in addition to being identified in the Data Availability Statement.
Data citations should provide sufficient information to identify and locate the dataset, such as:
- creator or author;
- dataset title;
- year;
- repository;
- version, where relevant;
- persistent identifier.
Persistent identifiers, such as DOIs or accession numbers, are preferred over non-persistent URLs where available.
Where a publicly available dataset has a persistent identifier and is directly relied upon in the study, the dataset should be cited in the reference list as a scholarly research output.
6. Restricted, Sensitive, or Confidential Data
Public sharing must not override legitimate obligations concerning:
- participant privacy or confidentiality;
- informed consent;
- personal or sensitive data;
- ethics approvals;
- legal or regulatory restrictions;
- intellectual property;
- confidential or proprietary information;
- security concerns;
- contractual restrictions;
- third-party rights.
Where data cannot be publicly shared for such reasons, the Data Availability Statement must explain the nature of the restriction sufficiently to allow readers to understand why access is limited.
Where controlled or managed access is possible, the statement should explain how qualified researchers may request access and what conditions apply.
7. Data Available Upon Reasonable Request
A statement that data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request may be used where this accurately reflects the manner in which the data can be accessed.
Such a statement should not be used merely to avoid appropriate repository deposition where public deposition is required by applicable disciplinary, funder, institutional, legal, or regulatory requirements.
Authors are expected to respond appropriately to legitimate requests consistent with the terms stated in the published article and with applicable ethical, legal, confidentiality, and intellectual-property restrictions.
8. Third-Party Data
Where a study uses data obtained from a third party and the authors do not have the legal authority to redistribute those data, the Data Availability Statement must identify the source of the data and explain the applicable access conditions.
Authors must not claim that third-party data are publicly available or redistributable unless they have the authority to make that claim.
Where appropriate, information should be provided to enable qualified readers to obtain the data directly from the relevant data provider.
9. Data Supporting Figures, Tables, and Analyses
Authors must retain sufficient underlying data and documentation to support the findings reported in the manuscript.
Where reasonably necessary for peer review, editorial assessment, or investigation of a credible research-integrity concern, the journal may request relevant underlying data, source files, analytical outputs, metadata, or documentation.
Such requests must be proportionate to the issue under assessment and remain subject to legitimate ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, security, contractual, and intellectual-property restrictions.
Failure or inability to provide requested data may affect the journal’s ability to evaluate the reliability of the work but does not by itself establish research misconduct.
10. Code, Software, and Computational Materials
Where custom code, scripts, computational workflows, models, or other software are material to the generation or interpretation of the reported findings, authors are encouraged to make them available where legally and practically possible.
Where such materials cannot be shared, authors should provide sufficient methodological information to permit appropriate scientific evaluation and should explain material restrictions where relevant.
Use of proprietary software does not remove the authors’ responsibility to report the methods and relevant analytical procedures with sufficient transparency.
11. Data Availability and Peer Review
Editors and reviewers may consider whether the Data Availability Statement is consistent with the nature of the research and whether the reported level of data access is sufficient for appropriate scientific evaluation.
Where underlying data are not yet public at the time of peer review, authors may be required to provide editors or reviewers with confidential access to relevant data where this is reasonably necessary for scientific evaluation and can be done consistently with applicable ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property, and data-protection requirements.
Repository-based private or reviewer-access links may be used where available.
The journal does not assume that the absence of public data sharing constitutes misconduct or invalidates a study where legitimate restrictions apply.
Automated assessments, inability to obtain data, or other screening indicators must not by themselves be treated as conclusive evidence of fabrication, falsification, or other misconduct.
12. Post-Publication Data Concerns
Where concerns arise after publication concerning the availability, integrity, provenance, or reliability of underlying data, the journal may request clarification or supporting materials and may take appropriate editorial action.
Depending on the nature and significance of the issue, action may include:
- clarification;
- correction;
- Expression of Concern;
- retraction;
- institutional referral;
- another proportionate response necessary to protect the scholarly record.
Formal determinations of research misconduct may require investigation by the relevant institution or other competent authority.
13. Examples of Data Availability Statements
The following examples may be adapted as appropriate.
Public repository
The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [DOI/accession number/stable URL].
Available upon reasonable request
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Restricted data
The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available because of [ethical/legal/privacy/confidentiality/contractual restriction]. Access may be considered under the conditions described at [contact/process, where applicable].
Third-party data
The data analyzed in this study were obtained from [source]. Restrictions apply to their redistribution. Access may be requested directly from [data provider] subject to the provider’s applicable conditions.
No new data
No new data were generated or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is therefore not applicable.
Authors must select or adapt a statement that accurately represents the circumstances of their study.
14. Implementation and Discipline-Specific Requirements
Compliance with this policy is assessed in relation to the nature of the study and the data involved.
The journal may establish additional discipline-specific requirements where public deposition, accession numbers, data citation, controlled-access procedures, or other data-management practices are standard or required for particular types of research.
Where funder, institutional, regulatory, repository, or disciplinary requirements impose additional data-sharing obligations, authors remain responsible for complying with those requirements.