IJEMR encourages authors to share research data, code, instruments and supporting materials that underpin published findings. Responsible data sharing improves transparency, reproducibility, verification and future research.

1. Data Availability Statement

All research articles should include a Data Availability Statement before the References section. The statement should explain whether supporting data are available, where they can be accessed and any conditions for use.

Examples:

Openly available data

The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [persistent link or DOI].

Data available on request

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to ethical and legal requirements.

Restricted data

The data are not publicly available because they contain confidential or personally identifiable information. Access may be considered upon reasonable request and subject to ethical approval.

No new data

No new data were created or analysed in this study.

2. What Authors Are Encouraged to Share

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to share:

• anonymised research datasets;

• code, scripts and analysis workflows;

• survey instruments, interview guides and research protocols;

• data dictionaries and metadata;

• supplementary tables, figures and appendices; and

• materials needed to understand or reproduce the research.

Data should be deposited in a recognised institutional, disciplinary or general-purpose repository where possible. Authors should provide a persistent link or DOI.

3. Privacy, Consent and Confidentiality

Data sharing must never compromise participant privacy, informed consent, confidentiality, intellectual-property rights, contractual obligations, cultural sensitivity or legal requirements.

Authors must remove direct and indirect identifiers before sharing data. Where data cannot be openly shared, authors should explain the restriction and, where possible, describe how qualified researchers may request controlled access.

4. Data Citation

Datasets, software, code and other research outputs created or reused in a study must be cited in the manuscript and reference list where appropriate.

Data citations should include the creator, year, title, repository, version where available and DOI or persistent URL.

5. Author Responsibility

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, documentation, lawful sharing and long-term accessibility of the data they provide.

Authors should retain underlying data and relevant documentation for a reasonable period after publication and provide them to the Editor upon a legitimate request related to research integrity or verification.

6. Editorial Review

Editors and reviewers may consider whether data-availability statements are clear and whether the reported methods and evidence adequately support the conclusions.

IJEMR recognises that open sharing is not possible in every case. A decision not to share data will not, by itself, prevent publication where the restriction is justified and transparently explained.