Sharing your research data
Sharing of research data demonstrates the robustness and validity of the research presented in an article by allowing others to reproduce and question results and to reuse the data for teaching and further research. It builds integrity and openness as part of the fabric of the research. For the researcher there are multiple benefits, including increasing exposure to their work.
Standardized Data Sharing Policies
Zibeline International Publishing is collaborating with researchers, institutes, funders, repositories, and other research data infrastructure parties to make data sharing the new normal. As a member of the STM Research Data Program initiative we are participating in the drive to achieve the harmonization and standardization of the research data ecosystem. We follow the guidelines of the 6-policies framework developed by the Research Data Alliance (RDA).
All research- and synthesis-based articles must include a Data Availability Statement (DAS), whether or not the data used in the article is shared. Refer to the table below for guidance on our standardized data sharing policies:
| Policy Level | What information should my Data Availability Statement (DAS) contain? | Do I need to share my data? 1 | Will my data be peer reviewed? 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encourages Data Sharing | The DAS confirms the presence or absence of data. | Optional | Optional |
| Expects Data Sharing | The DAS describes the availability or explains the absence of data. | Expected | Optional |
| Mandates Data Sharing | The DAS describes the availability of data. | Required | Optional |
| Mandates Data Sharing & Peer Reviews Data | The DAS describes the availability of data. | Required | Required |
1 Links to data in data availability statements are checked to ensure they link to the data that the authors intended. If data have been shared in a data repository, the data availability statement includes a permanent link to the data. Shared data is also cited.
2 Quality and/or replicability of linked data are peer reviewed. Depending on the journal, the peer reviewers may assess whether the data in the repository aligns with what is reported in the paper (for example, sample sizes and variables match), or they may evaluate the replicability of the data to ensure that the claims presented in the journal article are valid and can be reproduced.
Policy Tier Details
Encourages Data Sharing
The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors may elect to share their data and must provide a data availability statement for research- and synthesis-based articles to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. Shared data should be cited. For authors who have shared data: this statement should describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where you shared the data.
Authors are encouraged to select an appropriate data availability statement for their article from the list in the Standard Templates for Author Use section below.
Expects Data Sharing
The journal expects that data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement for research- and synthesis-based articles to describe the availability or explain the absence of shared data. When data have been shared, authors are required to include in their data availability statement a link to the repository they have used, and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. If sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements, then authors are not expected to share it.
Authors are encouraged to select an appropriate data availability statement for their article from the list in the Standard Templates for Author Use section below.
Mandates Data Sharing
The journal requires, as a condition for publication, that the data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement, including a link to the repository they have used, and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the editor, for example, if sharing data compromises privacy of human data, ethical standards or legal requirements. If authors are unable to share data (for example, if sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements) then authors are not required to share it and must describe restrictions in their data availability statement.
Authors are encouraged to select an appropriate data availability statement for their article from the list in the Standard Templates for Author Use section below.
Mandates Data Sharing and Peer Reviews Data
The journal requires, as a condition for publication, that the data supporting the results in the paper will be peer reviewed and archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement, including a link to the repository they have used, and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the editor. If sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements then authors are not required to share it.
Peer review evaluation criteria:
- Peer review of empirical data will be conducted to confirm the quality of the shared data, for example, that sample sizes match, that the variables described in the article are present as fields in the data repository, that data is complete; that data is properly labelled and described; and that it has the appropriate metadata for the kind of data being shared.
- Peer review of empirical data will be conducted to confirm that the data reproduce the analytic results reported in the paper.
Archiving and citing your research data
Good scientific practice requires the archived data to be “FAIR”: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. We recommend the use of community-endorsed data types. If you assign a persistent identifier to your research data by archiving it in a data repository, other researchers will be able to cite your data as well as your published research article.
Where possible, data should be submitted to discipline-specific, community-recognized repositories. In cases where there is no appropriate discipline-specific resource, data may be submitted to a general data repository. Please see https://www.re3data.org/, https://fairsharing.org/, or https://repositoryfinder.datacite.org/ for help finding research data repositories. We strongly recommend using CoreTrustSeal certified repositories.
Data Availability Statements (DAS) provide information on where research data that support the results and analysis can be found. It may contain links to publicly archived datasets, descriptions of the available data and/or information on how to access non-public data. Authors are responsible for providing truthful and verifiable information in this section.
If your journal uses a double-anonymized peer review process, the information in your DAS could potentially compromise the anonymity of you or your co-authors. We therefore recommend using repositories that allow temporary preservation of author anonymity to enable double-anonymized data submission (e.g. Open Science Framework, figshare, Dryad or Zenodo), or alternatively contact the curators of your data repository and ask for advice. Once accepted, please remember to replace the temporary link with a permanent live link to the data in the final version for publication – both in the DAS and cited in the reference list.
Data Availability Statements must take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple types of research data):
Template for data availability statement
| Data Availability | Template for Data Availability Statement |
|---|---|
| Data openly available in a public repository that issues datasets with DOIs | The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name e.g “figshare”] at http://doi.org/ [doi], reference number [reference number]. |
| Data openly available in a public repository that does not issue DOIs | The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number]. |
| Data derived from public domain resources | The data that support the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [URL/DOI], reference number [reference number]. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: [list resources and URLs] |
| Data available within the article or its supplementary materials | The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials. |
| Embargo on data due to commercial restrictions | The data that support the findings will be available in [repository name] at [URL / DOI link] following a [X month] embargo from the date of publication to allow for commercialization of research findings. |
| Data available on request due to privacy/ethical/legal/commercial restrictions | The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [initials]. The data are not publicly available due to privacy/ethical/legal/commercial restrictions. |
| Data not available - participant consent | The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available. |
| Data subject to third party restrictions | The data that support the findings of this study are available [from] [third party]. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available [from the authors / at URL] with the permission of [third party]. |
| Data available on request from the authors | The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [author initials], upon reasonable request. |
| Data sharing not applicable – no new data generated, or the article describes entirely theoretical research | Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. |
| Non-digital data available | Non-digital data supporting this study are curated at [add location]. |
| Author elects to not share data | Research data are not shared. |
When data is available and linked, authors will need to provide a citation of the data in their reference list. Data citations must be included in the reference list, include the minimum information as stated below (as recommended by DataCite) and follow journal style. Please note, the term [data] will be removed before publication. We strongly suggest the use of Digital Object Identifier (DOI) links.
Data citation:
[data] Dataset creator; Year; Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)
