Purpose

The Journal is committed to promoting transparency, reproducibility, and research integrity. We encourage authors to make the data, materials, software, and methodologies supporting their research available whenever possible to facilitate the verification, validation, and reproducibility of published findings. This policy is consistent with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and international best practices in open science.

Research Data Availability

Authors are encouraged to preserve and share the datasets, analytical code, research protocols, software, and other supporting materials that underpin the results reported in their manuscripts. Where appropriate, these materials should be deposited in trusted public or institutional repositories before or at the time of publication.

Authors are encouraged to:

• Deposit research data in recognized repositories.

• Share software, code, and analytical methods used in the study.

• Provide sufficient documentation to enable other researchers to understand and reuse the data.

• Retain original research data for a reasonable period after publication.

Data Citation

The Journal believes that proper citation of research data through standard reference lists provides an effective and transparent means of supporting reproducible research. Authors should formally cite datasets in the reference list using persistent identifiers, such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) or repository accession numbers, whenever available. Data citations should receive the same level of accuracy and completeness as references to journal articles.

Reproducibility of Research

Authors should provide sufficient methodological detail to allow qualified researchers to replicate or reproduce the reported work. Where specialized software, algorithms, laboratory procedures, or computational workflows have been used, authors are encouraged to make these resources available or clearly describe how they can be accessed.

Ethical and Legal Considerations

Data sharing must comply with applicable ethical, legal, institutional, and privacy requirements. Personal, confidential, or sensitive information must be anonymized or protected before public sharing. Where data cannot be shared due to ethical, legal, commercial, or confidentiality restrictions, authors should clearly explain these limitations in the manuscript.

Editorial Assessment

Editors and peer reviewers may request access to supporting data or related research materials when necessary to verify the validity and reproducibility of the reported findings. Authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable requests unless restricted by ethical or legal obligations.

Key Requirements

• Authors are encouraged to make research data available to support reproducibility.

• Research datasets should be cited in the manuscript's reference list using standard citation formats.

• Persistent identifiers such as DOIs should be used whenever available.

• Sufficient methodological detail should be provided to enable independent verification and reproduction of the research.

• Data sharing must respect ethical, legal, and privacy requirements.

• Editors may request supporting data during peer review when appropriate.

• The Journal supports transparent, reproducible, and responsible research practices in accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidance.