Research Transparency
Required data and availability information
Data Availability Statement
Every submitted manuscript must include a data availability statement explaining where the underlying data can be accessed or why access is restricted.
- Provide repository names, persistent links, and accession numbers when available.
- State any legal, ethical, privacy, or consent-based restrictions.
- Describe how qualified researchers may request restricted data.
Recommended Repositories
Authors are encouraged to deposit data, code, and materials in recognized repositories before publication.
- OSF, Zenodo, Figshare, GitHub, Dryad, or institutional repositories.
- Discipline-specific repositories for sequence, proteomic, imaging, or clinical datasets.
- Repositories should provide persistent identifiers whenever possible.
Code and Materials
Where analysis scripts, protocols, questionnaires, plasmids, strains, or other materials are necessary for replication, authors should explain how they can be accessed.
- Share analysis scripts with clear file names and version information.
- Document software, packages, instruments, and key parameters.
- Provide protocol details sufficient for independent evaluation.
Ethical and Sensitive Data
Human participant data, clinical data, endangered species locations, and other sensitive information must be handled responsibly.
- Do not disclose identifiable or confidential information.
- Confirm that data sharing is consistent with ethics approvals and consent.
- Provide de-identified or controlled-access data where appropriate.