Research Data Handling Policy
To support reproducibility and transparency, we encourage open data practices. Submission of a manuscript to an ABSU journal implies that all materials described, including relevant raw data, will be made available to researchers for non-commercial use, provided participant confidentiality is maintained.
1. Core Principles of Data Sharing
Submission of a manuscript to an ABSU journal implies that all materials described, including relevant raw data, will be made available to researchers for non-commercial use, provided participant confidentiality is maintained. We advocate for transparent reporting to drive the maximum utility of published research.
2. Data Availability Statements (DAS)
All manuscripts must include an 'Availability of Data and Materials' section. This section must explicitly detail where the supporting data can be found.
- Open Access:Data is deposited in a publicly available repository (e.g., Harvard Dataverse or Zenodo).
- Available on Request:Data is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
- Restricted Access:If data cannot be shared openly due to legal or ethical reasons, the specific reasons and conditions for access must be stated.
3. Human Participant Data and Confidentiality
Authors have an ethical and legal responsibility to protect the identity of research participants.
- Informed Consent:Ideally, consent for data publication should be obtained at the point of recruitment.
- Anonymization:If consent was not obtained, authors must demonstrate that publication does not compromise anonymity or breach local Nigerian data protection laws.
- Sensitive Data:Restrictions on sensitive data (e.g., electronic medical records or data from vulnerable populations) require a detailed explanation of access conditions.
4. Discipline-Specific Data Standards
Each journal has specific additional requirements for data reporting.
- JEST (Environment & Tech):Plant/Voucher Specimens must be deposited in a public herbarium. Geological Material must include precise provenance information. Software and Code must be archived in an appropriate repository with a unique identifier (DOI).
- JAMESLSS (Social Sciences & Law): Qualitative Data should follow COREQ or appropriate reporting guidelines. SAGER Guidelines: Data should be disaggregated by sex and/or gender where appropriate.
5. Digital Image Integrity
The final images in any published article must accurately represent the original data.
- Processing:Selective enhancement or alteration that misrepresents the data is prohibited.
- Raw Data Requests:Editors may request unprocessed data files during peer review or post-publication.
- Retention:Authors are strongly recommended to archive original unprocessed data and metadata in perpetuity.
6. Citation and Accountability
All data used must be properly cited and accounted for.
- Data Citation:All publicly available datasets must be referenced in the manuscript's reference list with a persistent identifier (DOI or URL).
- Author Responsibility:The corresponding author is accountable for all data presented, including data generated or analysed by third parties.
- Integrity Breach:Inability to produce original data upon request after publication may lead to a formal investigation or retraction of the article.