TEJAS Journal of Technologies and Humanitarian Science

Purpose of the Policy

This policy explains the journal's expectations concerning:

• Management of research data
• Data Availability Statements
• Public or controlled data access
• Repository deposit
• Confidential and restricted data
• Third-party data
• Data citation
• Editorial requests for supporting information
• Preservation responsibilities

The policy is intended to improve transparency and support the verification and responsible reuse of published research without requiring authors to disclose data that cannot lawfully or ethically be shared.

Scope of Research Data

For the purposes of this policy, research data may include materials that directly support the findings and conclusions reported in a manuscript.

Depending on the nature of the research, such materials may include:

• Quantitative or qualitative datasets
• Statistical outputs
• Laboratory or experimental results
• Survey instruments and questionnaires
• Interview or observation data
• Images, audio, or video files
• Research protocols
• Computational models
• Software code or analytical scripts
• Supplementary files
• Data dictionaries
• Other documentation necessary to understand or verify the reported findings

The requirement to manage or share particular material depends on its relevance to the published findings and on any applicable ethical, legal, confidentiality, contractual, or ownership restrictions.

Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for:

• Maintaining accurate and reliable research data
• Ensuring that the reported findings are supported by the underlying data
• Keeping sufficient records of data collection, processing, and analysis
• Protecting confidential, sensitive, or personally identifiable information
• Complying with applicable ethical approvals and consent conditions
• Respecting intellectual property, contractual, and third-party rights
• Describing relevant restrictions on data access accurately
• Providing a truthful Data Availability Statement
• Cooperating with reasonable editorial enquiries concerning the supporting data

Authors should retain research data and supporting records for an appropriate period in accordance with their institutional policies, funding requirements, disciplinary practices, ethical obligations, and applicable regulations.

TJTHS does not prescribe a single retention period for every type of research.

Data Availability Statement

Authors should include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript.

The statement should explain whether the data supporting the findings are:

• Included within the article
• Included in supplementary files
• Deposited in a public repository
• Available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request
• Available through a controlled-access procedure
• Owned or controlled by a third party
• Restricted for ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, contractual, or commercial reasons
• Not applicable because no new data were generated or analyzed

The statement must accurately represent the actual availability of the data.

Publicly Available Data

Where supporting data have been deposited in a public repository, the Data Availability Statement should provide, where available:

• Name of the repository
• Title or description of the dataset
• Persistent identifier, DOI, accession number, or stable link
• Applicable access or licensing conditions
• Any relevant version information

Authors should select a repository suitable for the relevant discipline, institution, funder, or data type.

TJTHS does not require authors to use a particular repository unless a separate requirement has been communicated for the relevant research or submission.

Data Available Within the Article

Where all supporting data are contained in the article or its supplementary files, authors may use a statement such as:

Data Available in a Repository

Where data are publicly deposited, authors may use a statement such as:

Data Available upon Reasonable Request

Where public deposit is not practical but the data may be shared with eligible researchers, authors may use a statement such as:

A statement that data are available upon reasonable request should not be used when the authors do not intend, are not authorized, or are not reasonably able to provide access.

The corresponding author should respond to legitimate requests and explain any applicable access conditions or restrictions.

Restricted or Confidential Data

Research data may not be suitable for public sharing where disclosure could:

• Identify research participants
• Breach participant consent
• Violate privacy or confidentiality
• Contravene ethical approval conditions
• Infringe intellectual property rights
• Violate contractual or institutional obligations
• Disclose confidential business or commercial information
• Create a legal, security, cultural, or safety concern
• Violate restrictions imposed by a lawful data custodian

Where access is restricted, authors should explain the general reason without disclosing confidential or sensitive information.

A suitable statement may be:

Participant Data and Privacy

Authors must not publicly disclose personally identifiable or confidential participant information unless appropriate consent and legal authorization have been obtained.

Before sharing participant-related data, authors should consider:

• Informed-consent conditions
• Ethics committee or institutional approval
• Risk of direct or indirect identification
• Confidentiality commitments
• Applicable privacy requirements
• Community or cultural sensitivities
• Restrictions on secondary use

Removing names alone may not be sufficient to protect participant identity. Authors remain responsible for assessing whether shared data could reasonably enable re-identification.

Controlled Access

Where open access is not appropriate, authors may provide data through a controlled-access procedure.

The Data Availability Statement should explain, where applicable:

• Who controls access
• How a request may be submitted
• The general eligibility conditions
• Whether ethical or institutional approval is required
• Whether a data-use agreement applies
• The general reason for restricting access

The journal does not guarantee that every request for controlled data access will be approved.

Third-Party Data

Where the research uses data obtained from another individual, institution, organisation, repository, company, government body, or other third party, authors must comply with the original access and reuse conditions.

Authors must not claim ownership of third-party data or promise access that they are not authorized to provide.

A suitable statement may be:

Authors should cite the original dataset or data source where appropriate.

No New Data

For an article that did not generate or analyze new research data, authors may use:

This statement may be appropriate for certain review articles, conceptual papers, commentaries, or other manuscripts that do not report a new data analysis.

Software, Code, and Computational Materials

Where software code, algorithms, analytical scripts, computational models, or configuration files are essential to understanding or reproducing the reported analysis, authors are encouraged to make them available where legally and practically possible.

Any statement concerning code or software availability should identify:

• Where the material may be accessed
• The applicable version
• Access or licence conditions
• Any technical or legal restrictions

Authors must not share proprietary software, licensed code, security-sensitive material, or third-party intellectual property without authorization.

Data Documentation

Shared data should be accompanied by sufficient documentation to help other researchers understand the material.

Where applicable, documentation may include:

• Variable descriptions
• Data dictionaries
• Units of measurement
• Collection methods
• Coding procedures
• File-format information
• Analytical methods
• Software or version information
• Explanation of missing or excluded data
• Applicable reuse conditions

Authors should not provide data in a manner that is intentionally misleading, incomplete, corrupted, or inconsistent with the published findings.

Data Citation

Datasets used or generated in the research should be cited where appropriate.

A data citation should include available information such as:

• Creator or data producer
• Dataset title
• Repository or publisher
• Publication or release year
• Version
• Persistent identifier or stable link

Data obtained from another source must be acknowledged in accordance with the source's citation and licensing requirements.

Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit relevant data, tables, figures, questionnaires, protocols, code, or other supporting information as supplementary material where appropriate.

Supplementary files must:

• Be relevant to the manuscript
• Be accurately described
• Avoid unnecessary personal or confidential information
• Comply with copyright and permission requirements
• Remain consistent with the published article

Acceptance of a manuscript does not automatically require the journal to publish every submitted supplementary file.

Editorial Assessment

The Editorial Office may request clarification concerning:

• The existence and location of supporting data
• The accuracy of a Data Availability Statement
• Ethical or legal restrictions
• Data ownership
• Participant consent
• Repository information
• Inconsistencies between the data and reported findings
• Concerns regarding fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or selective reporting

Where reasonably necessary, the journal may request relevant data, records, analyses, or supporting documentation from the authors.

Any request will be considered in light of confidentiality, privacy, ethical approval, legal restrictions, intellectual property rights, and the nature of the concern.

Peer-Review Access

Where supporting data are required for meaningful editorial or peer-review evaluation, authors may be asked to provide access through an appropriate and secure method.

Confidential or restricted data should not be transmitted through an insecure or unauthorized channel.

Providing data for confidential editorial assessment does not mean that the data will automatically be made publicly available.

Data Integrity Concerns

Where concerns arise regarding the existence, accuracy, completeness, or integrity of research data, the journal may:

• Request clarification from the authors
• Request relevant supporting records
• Suspend editorial processing
• Seek additional academic or technical assessment
• Request correction of the Data Availability Statement
• Decline or discontinue manuscript consideration
• Take appropriate post-publication action under the journal's applicable policies

The action taken will depend on the nature of the concern, the available evidence, and the publication status of the manuscript or article.

Post-Publication Requests

Authors should make reasonable efforts to respond to legitimate enquiries concerning data supporting a published article.

Data access remains subject to:

• Ethical and consent conditions
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Legal requirements
• Intellectual property rights
• Data ownership
• Contractual restrictions
• Institutional approval
• Technical feasibility

The journal does not require authors to provide data where sharing would be unlawful, unethical, unauthorized, or inconsistent with valid restrictions.

Corrections to Data Availability Information

Where a Data Availability Statement is found to be materially inaccurate or incomplete after publication, the journal may request clarification or publish an appropriate correction or other editorial notice.

Where the reliability of the article is affected by unavailable, missing, fabricated, falsified, or materially inconsistent data, the matter may be considered under the journal's Corrections and Retractions Policy or Research Misconduct Policy.

Preservation Responsibility

Authors are responsible for maintaining and preserving their research data in accordance with applicable institutional, disciplinary, funding, ethical, contractual, and legal requirements.

Where data are deposited in an external repository, preservation and continued access are subject to the repository's own policies and technical arrangements.

TJTHS does not guarantee the permanent operation or continued availability of independently managed external repositories, websites, or databases.

Relationship with Other Policies

This Data Availability Policy should be read together with the journal’s:

• Author Guidelines
• Publication Ethics Policy
• Research Misconduct Policy
• Copyright and Licensing Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• Corrections and Retractions Policy

Policy Review

TJTHS may review and revise this Data Availability Policy when changes are required in journal procedures, research practices, legal responsibilities, or scholarly communication requirements.

Any revised version will be made available through the official journal website.

Editorial Office