Purpose
Research is more trustworthy and more useful when others can check and build on it. LMDAJ encourages and, for some article types, requires authors to say whether and how the data behind their results can be accessed. At the same time, patients’ privacy, community interests and the limited research infrastructure in many Liberian and West African settings must be respected. This policy sets a proportionate, realistic standard that can grow over time.
Principles
- Data underlying published findings should be available to editors, reviewers and, where possible, readers.
- Data should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary, because of privacy, consent, ethics, legal or security limits.
- Authors who cannot share data say why. A restriction is not a bar to publication but must be disclosed.
- Local researchers and communities who produced the data are recognised, and sharing must not exploit them. Fair credit and benefit-sharing are expected in international collaborations.
- Data should be cited and credited like any other output.
Data availability statement
Every research article must include a Data Availability Statement that says one of:
- Data are in the article and its supplementary files.
- Data are in a named public repository (with DOI or accession number).
- Data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. State how and what conditions apply.
- Data cannot be shared, and why (for example, patient privacy, consent terms, legal or ethical restrictions).
Authors must also describe who had access to the data and who takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis (the guarantor).
What to share, and when
- At submission: the Data Availability Statement. Editors and reviewers may ask to see the data, code or analysis files during review. Authors must respond. Materials are confidential.
- At publication: deposit data in a trusted repository where possible, and include the link or accession number in the article. Suitable repositories are those that give a persistent identifier (DOI), for example Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad, or a discipline-specific repository.
- Code and protocols: analysis code, questionnaires, and study protocols should be shared when they are needed to reproduce results.
- Clinical trials: the protocol and statistical analysis plan are required with submission. Individual participant data sharing plans should be described in the Data Availability Statement. Trial registration is required (see Publication Ethics Policy).
- Case reports and small series: data sharing statements are brief; patient identifiers are never shared.
Protecting participants
- De-identify data before sharing. Remove names, hospital numbers, exact dates, locations and any details that could identify a person, especially in small communities or for rare conditions.
- Share only what the participants consented to. Consent forms should anticipate data sharing where possible.
- Where data cannot be fully anonymised, use controlled access: a repository or data access committee that reviews requests.
- Take extra care with sensitive data (HIV status, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, stigmatised conditions, genetic data).
- Comply with applicable law in Liberia and the countries where data were collected.
Reuse and secondary analysis
- Reusers must cite the original source and, where required, the authors.
- Secondary analyses of shared data are welcome. They should be described clearly as secondary and state the original dataset.
- Where a dataset comes from a community or an institution, reuse should respect any conditions set out by the data owners.
Failure to share
If authors state data are available but do not provide them when asked by editors, reviewers or readers, the editors may:
- contact the authors and the institution or funder;
- delay or reject the manuscript;
- after publication, publish an Expression of Concern or Correction noting that data cannot be obtained (see Corrections Policy).
Authors should keep data for at least 5–10 years after publication.
Authors who need help
LMDAJ will, where it can, help authors with limited resources to share data: guidance notes, a short checklist and signposts to free repositories.
Linked policies
Peer Review Policy · Publication Ethics Policy · Patient Consent Policy · Open Access Policy · Corrections Policy · AI Policy (do not upload confidential data into AI tools).
Appendix A: Data availability statement examples
- “All data generated or analysed are included in this published article and its supplementary files.”
- “The de-identified dataset and analysis code are available at Zenodo [DOI].”
- “The datasets are not publicly available because they contain patient information. De-identified data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request, subject to approval by the [Hospital] ethics committee.”
- “No new data were created or analysed in this study.”
Appendix B: Author checklist
☐ Data availability statement included ☐ Repository link or accession number ☐ Data de-identified ☐ Consent allows sharing ☐ Code and protocols available if relevant ☐ Trial registration and protocol (trials) ☐ Local collaborators credited