Data and Reproducibility

By allowing others to reuse the outcomes of earlier studies and encouraging the creation of new knowledge based on earlier discoveries, data sharing improves the efficiency of the research process. Transparency and reproducibility, which are necessary components for building scientific confidence, are also supported by data sharing. As a signatory to the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) standards, UJPR urges authors to make the data that supports their research conclusions readily available for reproducibility.

Data stored in institutional, topic-specific, or general data repositories must be cited. Authors should include a formal citation in the reference list and refer to the data when citing or making statements based on it in the manuscript's main text. The format suggested in the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles is what we advise using. As additional data repositories, we suggest GitHub, Dryad, Zenodo, and Figshare.

Below is an example of an in-text data citation:

[dataset] Authors; Year; Title of dataset; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Permanent identification (such as a DOI)

The exact definition of research data varies depending on the topic, but in general, it refers to the outcomes of observations or experiments that support research conclusions but haven't yet been published in an article. There are a number of extra data kinds that are not made available through article publication, even if most data is typically already widely available as part of an article. This can involve raw data, processed data, software, protocols, algorithms, methodologies, materials, and so forth.

Principles of Data Sharing

The UJPR research data policy is based on the following principles:

  • Wherever possible, research data should be freely accessible to all researchers with minimal reuse restrictions.
  • It is important for researchers to maintain control over the availability and use of their research data, and they should be compensated for the time and effort they put into producing and disseminating it. 
  • Discipline-specific needs must be taken into account, as expectations and practices regarding research data differ throughout fields.
  • Enabling research data to be reused effectively is a common goal that should be pursued collaboratively by all parties involved in order to identify efficiencies and prevent duplication of effort.
  • Platforms, publications, tools, and curation services can enhance research data by improving their discoverability, use, reuse, and citation.
  • Where others add value and/or incur a significant cost in enhancing research data to enable its reuse, these contributions need to be recognized and valued.

 Policy for Research Data

 UJPR data policy is based on “encouraging, but not mandating" the sharing of research data. As such, authors are encouraged to deposit their research data into a relevant data repository and to cite and link to the dataset in their article. Where data sharing is not possible, authors are requested to make a statement to explain why the research data cannot be shared. It is recommended that authors that reuse data from public sources include program code, statistical package scripts, and other documentation that enables a knowledgeable researcher to accurately replicate all published results.

Authors using original data are encouraged to:

  • Make the data accessible through a reliable digital repository (note: there is no need to publish the data to a data repository if the article text, tables, and figures already provide all the information needed to replicate the reported analysis);
  • Include every variable, treatment scenario, and observation that are mentioned in the article
  • Provide a full account of the procedures used to collect, clean, or generate the data;
  • Provide program code, scripts, and other documentation sufficient to precisely reproduce all the published results;
  • Provide research materials and descriptions of procedures necessary to conduct an independent replication of the research.

Editors will ask authors to provide a Data Availability Statement that lists the sources of the research data used to support an article's findings. This is what the Data Availability Statement ought to display:

  • whether individual anonymized participant data will be shared;
  • which data will be shared;
  • whether additional related documents will be accessible (e.g., study methods, statistical analysis plans, etc.);
  • when the data will become available and for how long, applicable;
  • When and how long the data will be accessible; the access conditions under which the data will be shared (including with whom, for what kinds of analysis, and via what means).