Data Sharing and Research Transparency Policy
SAER Journal · Editorial Policies
SAER Journal supports transparency, verifiability, and reproducibility in scientific research.
Authors are expected to provide, as far as possible, clear and sufficient information about the data, methods, analytical processes, and related research materials underlying their findings. Data sharing is considered in light of confidentiality, data protection, ethics requirements, intellectual property, and other legitimate restrictions.
Policy No. SAER-POL-DS-12 · Version 1.0 · Effective 2026 · Last Updated 14 September 2026 · Responsible Body SAER Journal Editorial Board
1. General Principle
SAER Journal supports making the data and methods underlying research findings as understandable as possible to readers. Clarity, accuracy, and sufficient methodological detail are among the core principles of research reporting.
Data sharing alone is not the sole measure of scientific transparency. Depending on the nature of the research, disclosure of data, code, analysis plans, research materials, protocols, or other supporting documents may also contribute to transparency.
2. Sharing of Research Data
Where ethically and legally possible, authors are encouraged to share research data supporting the principal findings of the article in an appropriate institutional or disciplinary data repository.
If data sharing is not possible, or is possible only under certain conditions, this may be explained briefly in the manuscript or in a data availability statement.
3. Data Availability Statement
SAER Journal supports the inclusion of a data availability statement in research articles where appropriate. Such a statement may indicate one of the following:
- The data are available in an open data repository,
- The data are included in the article or supplementary files,
- The data may be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request,
- The data are not publicly available for ethical, legal, or confidentiality reasons,
- Access to the data is restricted because of third-party limitations,
- No shareable dataset exists because of the nature of the research.
4. Personal Data and Participant Confidentiality
Sharing research data must not violate the privacy or confidentiality rights of research participants. When data relate to identified or identifiable individuals, applicable data-protection law, ethics committee requirements, and commitments made to participants must be taken into account.
Where necessary, data should be appropriately anonymized or identifying elements removed. However, where anonymization is insufficient or there is a risk of re-identification, data sharing may be restricted.
5. Sensitive Research Data
Data sharing in research concerning health, disability, children, vulnerable groups, violence, sexual life, biometric or genetic information, and similar sensitive areas must be considered with particular care.
Although open data sharing can benefit scientific transparency, participant safety and privacy take priority.
6. Ethics Committee Approval and Participant Consent
If ethics committee approval or participant consent includes specific restrictions concerning data sharing, authors are expected to comply with those restrictions.
Where participants have consented to the use of data only for specific purposes, broader sharing of the data may not be appropriate.
7. Data Accuracy and Integrity
Authors are responsible for ensuring that the data presented in the article accurately reflect the records obtained during the research. Data fabrication, data falsification, selective concealment of data, or misleading data processing practices are not accepted.
If data cleaning, transformation, exclusion, or similar procedures are important for understanding the results, they should be described adequately in the methods section.
8. Analysis Code and Software
Analysis code, scripts, or specialized software processes used to generate research findings may be shared where ethically, legally, and technically possible.
The name and version of the software and the core features of the analysis process should be reported where they are important for understanding or reproducing the findings.
9. Transparency in Quantitative Research
In quantitative research, the sampling method, data-collection instruments, definition of variables, analysis methods, and important data-processing steps should be described in sufficient detail for readers to evaluate the research process.
Where preregistration, an analysis plan, or a research protocol exists, relevant information may be provided where appropriate.
10. Transparency in Qualitative Research
Transparency in qualitative research does not necessarily require raw interview or participant data to be made public.
Researchers should provide sufficient methodological information relevant to evaluation of the study, including the sampling approach, data-generation process, analysis method, coding or theme-development approach, and researcher positionality.
Participant narratives or interview records may remain unavailable for confidentiality reasons.
11. Data Repositories
When data are shared, the use of sustainable and reliable institutional, disciplinary, or general-purpose academic data repositories is recommended where possible.
Where a persistent identifier or access link is available for a shared dataset, authors are encouraged to include it in the article.
12. Third-Party Data
Data not owned by the authors and obtained from a public authority, private organization, research center, database, or another third party may be subject to restrictions on use or redistribution.
Where such data cannot be shared publicly, authors should, to the extent possible, explain the data source and conditions of access.
13. Editorial Requests for Data
Where necessary to support assessment of the reliability of the research or the evaluation process, the editor may request anonymized data, analysis outputs, research protocols, scale information, or other relevant materials from the authors.
Such a request does not mean that the data will automatically be made public. Materials provided are considered within applicable confidentiality and data-protection obligations.
14. Research Reproducibility
Authors are expected to report the methods and analysis processes of the study clearly enough to allow other researchers to undertake a scientific assessment.
Even in research designs where full reproducibility is not possible, methodological transparency and adequate explanation of the research process remain essential.
15. Post-Publication Data Concerns
If a serious concern concerning the accuracy, integrity, or ethics of the study's data arises after publication, SAER Journal may request an explanation or supporting materials from the authors.
Depending on the nature of the issue, a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or another appropriate post-publication action may be considered.
16. Policy Review and Updating
SAER Journal may review and update this policy as necessary in response to developments in open science, research data management, data-protection law, and scholarly publishing standards.
