Journals and Publishers Policies
Like funders, publishers and journals are increasingly expecting researchers to make data associated with scientific publications available to others.
Currently, journal data availability policies range from mere encouragements to share data that underpin publications to mandatory requirements.
In 2015, “Science” published guidelines for journals to help promote an open science culture. The Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines include eight modular standards, each with four levels of increasing stringency. Journal policies can be evaluated based on the degree to which they comply with the TOP Guidelines. Additionally, The Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles encompasses eight principles that stress the importance and legitimacy of data, the need to give scholarly credit to contributors and the importance of data as evidence.
The TOP Guidelines identify four levels of 'Data Transparency':
Level 0 – Encourage - The journal encourages data sharing, or says nothing.
Level 1 – Disclose - Articles must state whether data are available, and, if so, where to access them.
Level 2 – Require -Data must be posted to a trusted repository. Exceptions must be identified at article submission.
Level 3 – Verify - Data must be posted to a trusted repository, and reported analyses will be reproduced independently before publication.
Many publishers have implemented the above or similar frameworks for Data Availability Policies and Data Availability Statements, including:
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Elsevier |
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Springer Nature |
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Taylor and Francis |
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Wiley |
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Oxford University Press |
The specific requirements regarding data availability can usually be found on a journal's website (e.g. in the editorial policies or instructions for authors).
For assistance, contact CDU’s Research Data Librarian