Data Sharing Policy

Fundamental Scientific Reports in Multidisciplinary Areas (FSRMA) supports transparency, reproducibility, and responsible research practices by encouraging authors to make the data underlying their published research available whenever this is ethically, legally, and practically possible.

Research data should be managed and shared in a manner that respects participant privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, contractual obligations, and applicable legal and ethical requirements.

Scope of Research Data

For the purposes of this policy, research data may include:

• Raw or processed datasets.

• Experimental observations.

• Survey or questionnaire data.

• Statistical files.

• Laboratory measurements.

• Images and multimedia files.

• Computer code and scripts.

• Models and algorithms.

• Protocols and methodological materials.

• Supplementary tables and figures.

• Other materials necessary to understand, verify, or reproduce the reported findings.

The type of data relevant to an article will depend on the nature of the research.

Data Availability

Authors are encouraged to make the data supporting the findings of their article available to readers wherever possible.

Data may be made available through:

• A recognized institutional repository.

• A disciplinary or subject-specific repository.

• A general-purpose research data repository.

• Supplementary files published with the article.

• Another stable and publicly accessible platform appropriate for the research field.

Where data are deposited in a repository, authors should provide a persistent identifier, DOI, accession number, or stable link where available.

Data Availability Statement

FSRMA encourages authors to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript.

The statement should clearly indicate where the supporting data can be accessed or explain why the data cannot be made publicly available.

Examples include:

Publicly available data:
“The data supporting the findings of this study are available in [Repository Name] at [persistent identifier or link].”

Data available on reasonable request:
“The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.”

Restricted data:
“The data are not publicly available due to privacy, ethical, legal, or confidentiality restrictions.”

No new data:
“No new data were created or analyzed in this study.”

The statement used must accurately reflect the actual availability of the research data.

Ethical and Legal Restrictions

FSRMA recognizes that not all research data can be made publicly available.

Restrictions may apply where data contain:

• Personally identifiable information.

• Confidential or sensitive information.

• Protected health information.

• Data covered by participant-consent limitations.

• Proprietary or commercially sensitive information.

• Information restricted by law, regulation, contract, or institutional policy.

• Material that could create legitimate security or safety risks.

Where data cannot be shared openly, authors should provide a clear explanation of the restriction and, where possible, describe how qualified researchers may request controlled access.

Human Participant Data

Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of human participants.

Research data should be anonymized or de-identified before public sharing where appropriate.

Authors must ensure that data sharing is consistent with:

• Informed consent.

• Ethics committee or institutional review board requirements.

• Applicable privacy and data-protection laws.

• Relevant institutional policies.

Authors must not publicly share identifiable participant data without appropriate permission.

Data from Third Parties

Authors using data obtained from third parties must comply with any relevant terms of use, licences, contractual conditions, or legal restrictions.

Authors should not deposit or redistribute third-party data when they do not have permission to do so.

Where direct sharing is restricted, authors should provide sufficient information to allow readers to understand how the data were obtained and, where possible, how lawful access may be requested.

Data Citation

Datasets that materially support a published article should be cited appropriately.

Data citations should, where possible, include:

• Author or creator.

• Dataset title.

• Repository or publisher.

• Year.

• Version, where applicable.

• Persistent identifier or DOI.

Research data should be treated as a scholarly output and credited appropriately.

Research Reproducibility

Where feasible, authors are encouraged to provide the materials necessary to support verification or reproducibility of their findings.

These materials may include:

• Analysis code.

• Statistical scripts.

• Experimental protocols.

• Survey instruments.

• Computational models.

• Relevant supplementary documentation.

The level of sharing should be appropriate to the discipline and the nature of the research.

Data Integrity

Authors are responsible for ensuring that data presented in the manuscript are accurate, authentic, and not fabricated, falsified, or misleadingly manipulated.

Authors should retain research data and relevant supporting records for an appropriate period in accordance with institutional, disciplinary, legal, or funder requirements.

The journal may request supporting data or documentation when necessary to:

• Evaluate a manuscript.

• Investigate a research-integrity concern.

• Clarify a published result.

• Assess a correction, expression of concern, or retraction.

Failure to provide relevant supporting information without reasonable justification may result in editorial action.

Data During Peer Review

Where supporting data are necessary for the evaluation of a manuscript, editors or reviewers may request access to relevant datasets or supplementary materials.

Such data must be handled confidentially during peer review.

Reviewers must not use unpublished data for personal, academic, or commercial purposes.

Sensitive and Confidential Data

Sensitive data should only be shared when doing so is ethically and legally appropriate.

Where open sharing is not possible, authors should consider:

• Controlled-access repositories.

• Managed access procedures.

• Anonymized or aggregated datasets.

• Data-access committees.

• Reasonable-request mechanisms.

Restrictions should be proportionate and should not be used unnecessarily