Data Availability Policy
Practical expectations for data statements, repositories, code, materials and legitimate access restrictions.
Authors should make the evidence supporting their conclusions available wherever ethical, legal, contractual and privacy requirements permit. Every research article should explain where data can be found or why access is restricted.
Availability statement
State whether data are openly available, available on reasonable request, contained in the article or supplements, deposited under controlled access, or unavailable for a justified reason.
Repositories
Use an established discipline or general repository when possible and provide a persistent identifier, accession number or stable URL.
Code and materials
Custom code, protocols, questionnaires and materials necessary to reproduce the analysis should be described and shared when rights and participant protections allow.
Restricted data
Do not expose personal, confidential, culturally sensitive, security-sensitive or licensed data. Explain the restriction and the lawful route for qualified access.
Author checklist
- Remove direct and indirect identifiers before sharing human-participant data.
- Confirm consent and ethics approvals permit the proposed access route.
- Document file formats, variables, software and version information.
- Cite deposited datasets in the reference list where appropriate.
- Keep original records long enough to support editorial questions, correction requests or institutional review.