Research Data Management

Published research papers should include a short statement describing how and on what terms any supporting research data may be accessed which is known as a Data Access or Data Availability Statement. Where access to the data is restricted, the published metadata should also give the reason. A Data Access Statement should include the following information:

• where the data can be accessed (preferably a data repository or UDORA)
• a persistent identifier, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or accession number, or a link to a permanent record for the dataset
• details of any restrictions on accessing the data with a justifiable explanation (e.g. for ethical, legal or commercial reasons) and a summary of the conditions which must be satisfied for access to be granted.

A simple direction to contact the author may not be considered acceptable by some funders and publishers. Some journals provide a “data access” or “data availability” section for you to include the Data Access Statement. If no such section exists, you can include your statement in the acknowledgements section.