- Data and permissions
- ISSN 2576-2818 (online)
- Open access · CC BY 4.0
Data Archiving and Permissions
Research data supports verification and reuse. This page explains the data-availability statement that every empirical research manuscript needs, how to deposit data, and how to handle permissions for material you did not create.
Data-availability statement
Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement. The statement says where the data underlying the results can be found, or why they cannot be shared and under what conditions they may be requested.
- Deposited data: the repository name, the accession number or DOI, and the license.
- Data in the article: a statement that all data are in the article and its supplementary files.
- Restricted data: the reason for the restriction, such as commercial agreements, consent terms, small cell counts that could identify participants, or participant confidentiality, and how access can be requested.
Depositing data
Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in a public repository that issues a persistent identifier, and to cite the dataset in the reference list. General-purpose repositories are suitable where no discipline-specific repository exists.
- Assay, clinical and experimental data are shared as tables in open, non-proprietary formats, with a description of each variable, its unit and the assay used. Sequencing, expression and other omics data go to the relevant public repository, with accession numbers reported in the article.
- Code and models needed to reproduce the analysis are shared with the data where possible.
- Data about human participants are de-identified in line with the consent given and applicable law, and identifiable data are shared only through controlled access.
A Data Note is a journal article type for describing a dataset in detail; see the Instructions for Authors.
Reusing other people's material
Authors are responsible for permission to reproduce figures, tables, images, maps or substantial text from other sources. Material published under CC BY 4.0 may be reused with attribution; other material requires written permission from the rights holder, which is provided to the editorial office on request. The source and permission are stated in the caption.
Articles in this journal may be reused by others under CC BY 4.0, with credit to the authors and the source.
Questions about data or permissions are sent to the editorial office. See also the Editorial Policies.