Data sharing policy

Data Sharing Policy

The Journal of Experimental and Clinical Anatomy (JECA) supports transparency, reproducibility, and responsible data sharing in research. Authors are encouraged to make the data underlying their findings available whenever ethically, legally, and practically possible.

JECA follows the data sharing recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). In particular, all manuscripts reporting the results of clinical trials must include a data sharing statement in accordance with ICMJE requirements.

For further guidance, authors should consult the ICMJE Recommendations:
http://icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

1. Data Sharing Statement Requirement

All manuscripts submitted to JECA must include a Data Availability Statement or Data Sharing Statement, as appropriate to the study design.

For manuscripts reporting clinical trial results, inclusion of a data sharing statement is mandatory.

2. Information Required in the Data Sharing Statement

For clinical trials, the data sharing statement must clearly specify:

  • whether de-identified individual participant data will be shared;
  • whether a data dictionary will be provided;
  • exactly which data will be shared;
  • whether related documents will be made available, such as:
    • the study protocol,
    • statistical analysis plan,
    • informed consent form, where appropriate,
    • analytic code, where applicable;
  • when the data will become available;
  • how long the data will remain available;
  • the criteria for access, including:
    • who may access the data,
    • for what types of analyses or purposes,
    • by what mechanism the data will be shared (for example, repository access, application to the authors, or data access committee approval).

Authors must provide a definitive response regarding data sharing. “Undecided” is not an acceptable statement for manuscripts reporting clinical trial results.

3. Recommended Elements of a General Data Availability Statement

For non-clinical trial submissions, authors should indicate, where applicable:

  • whether the data supporting the findings are publicly available;
  • the name of the repository or archive where the data are deposited;
  • the persistent identifier, accession number, DOI, or URL for the dataset;
  • any conditions or restrictions on access;
  • if data are not publicly available, the reason for the restriction (for example, ethical, legal, privacy, or institutional constraints).

4. Secondary Use of Shared Data

Authors conducting secondary analyses using data generated by other investigators must confirm that their use of the shared data complies with the terms and conditions under which the data were made available.

Such authors must also:

  • acknowledge the original source of the data appropriately;
  • cite the dataset using its unique and persistent identifier where available;
  • provide proper credit to the original data generators;
  • clearly describe how the present analysis differs from any prior published analyses based on the same dataset.

5. Recognition of Data Generators

JECA recognizes that the generation, curation, and sharing of high-quality datasets require substantial intellectual and practical effort. Appropriate acknowledgment and recognition of data generators are essential.

Researchers using data collected by others are strongly encouraged, where feasible, to seek collaboration with the original investigators or data custodians. Where collaboration is not possible, the contribution of the original data generators must still be fully acknowledged in the manuscript.

6. Ethical, Legal, and Confidentiality Considerations

Data sharing must be consistent with applicable ethical standards, informed consent provisions, institutional policies, and legal or regulatory requirements, particularly with respect to:

  • participant confidentiality;
  • privacy and data protection;
  • research ethics approval;
  • restrictions imposed by consent agreements;
  • intellectual property and proprietary considerations.

Authors must ensure that any shared data are appropriately de-identified and that participant privacy is protected.

7. Editorial Review of Data Sharing Statements

Data sharing statements are subject to editorial review. JECA may request clarification, revision, or additional information where a statement is incomplete, unclear, or inconsistent with journal policy.

Failure to provide a required data sharing statement may delay editorial assessment or publication.

8. Recommended Repositories

Where possible, JECA encourages authors to deposit data in a recognized, discipline-appropriate, publicly accessible repository that provides long-term preservation and persistent identifiers.

If no suitable public repository is available, authors should explain how data may be accessed upon reasonable request and under what conditions.

9. Policy Objective

JECA’s data sharing policy is intended to promote:

  • transparency in research reporting;
  • reproducibility and verification of findings;
  • responsible reuse of research data;
  • collaboration within the scientific community; and
  • appropriate attribution and recognition for data generation and sharing.