Data Availability Policy

Introduction

The International Journal of Behavioral, Social and Movement Sciences (IJOBSMS) is committed to promoting transparency, reproducibility, and research integrity. Authors are encouraged to make the data supporting their research findings available whenever possible to facilitate verification, replication, and further scholarly investigation.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to enhance the reliability and credibility of published research by encouraging appropriate data sharing practices while respecting ethical, legal, and privacy considerations.

Data Availability Statement

Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscripts describing the availability of the data underlying their research findings.

Examples include:

  • The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

  • The data used in this study are publicly available in a recognized repository.

  • The data are not publicly available due to privacy, confidentiality, or ethical restrictions.

Data Sharing

Authors are encouraged to deposit research data in appropriate institutional, national, or international repositories whenever possible. Suitable repositories may include:

  • Zenodo

  • Figshare

  • Dryad

  • OSF (Open Science Framework)

  • Institutional repositories

Where applicable, authors should provide repository links, accession numbers, or persistent identifiers within the manuscript.

Ethical and Legal Considerations

Data sharing must comply with applicable ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements. Authors should ensure that:

  • Participant confidentiality is protected.

  • Personally identifiable information is removed or anonymized.

  • Necessary permissions and approvals have been obtained.

  • Data sharing does not violate copyright, contractual, or legal obligations.

Sensitive and Confidential Data

In cases involving sensitive, proprietary, confidential, or restricted information, authors may limit public access to the data. Such restrictions should be clearly explained within the Data Availability Statement.

Editorial Review

The Editorial Office may request clarification regarding data availability where necessary. Authors may be asked to provide supporting information regarding datasets, repositories, or access conditions during the editorial or peer-review process.

Responsibility of Authors

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, integrity, management, and preservation of the data associated with their published research. The journal does not assume responsibility for the storage, maintenance, or accessibility of datasets deposited in external repositories.

Exceptions

Data sharing may not be possible in certain circumstances, including:

  • Ethical restrictions.

  • Privacy and confidentiality concerns.

  • National security considerations.

  • Legal or contractual limitations.

  • Proprietary or commercially sensitive information.

Authors should clearly explain any such restrictions in the manuscript.

Compliance with Research Integrity Standards

The journal supports responsible data management practices and encourages authors to follow recognized disciplinary standards and best practices for data collection, storage, preservation, and sharing.

Policy Review

This policy may be updated periodically to reflect developments in scholarly communication, open science initiatives, research integrity standards, and publication best practices.