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Research Data Sharing Policies
At SAGE we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. We support and encourage research data to be shared, discoverable, citable, and recognized as an intellectual product of value. SAGE is a signatory to the Centre for Open Science’s Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, is a member of the STM Research Data Group, and supports the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles.
Research data refers to units of information collected, observed, generated, or created to validate original research findings. Data may be numerical, descriptive, aural, or visual. Research data varies widely in format across disciplines, and can be anything from spreadsheets of quantifiable information, to qualitative information like interview data or field notes. Read a list of examples of qualitative data.
SAGE journals vary in their approach to, and requirements on research data sharing. The majority of SAGE journals follow a minimum standard which encourages authors, where relevant, and subject to ethical and legal considerations, to openly share, cite, and link to their research data. The majority of journals will follow one of the guidelines from the framework below. Please check the Submission Guidelines for the journal you wish to submit to for the appropriate research data sharing policy and check any funder requirements.
Option 1 : Encouragement (share, cite, and linking encouraged)
Authors are encouraged to:
- Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
- Cite this data in your research
Option 2 : Requirement (share, cite, and linking mandatory)
As a condition of publication authors are required to:
- Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- Include a data availability statement. This should:
- Indicate if data is available and shared
- In certain cases, indicate if research data is available but not shared, and why. If you cannot share your data and this is a requirement of publication, consult the journal editorial office.
- Indicate if there is an absence of data
- Cite data in your research
Option 3 : Verification (share, cite, and linking mandatory, with peer review)
As a condition of publication, authors are required to:
- Share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- Include a data availability statement. This should:
- Indicate if data is available and shared
- In certain cases, indicate if research data is available but not shared, and why. If you cannot share your data and this is a requirement of publication, consult the journal editorial office.
- Indicate if there is an absence of data
- Cite data in your research
Peer reviewers may be asked to peer review the research data prior to publication. Please refer to individual journal guidelines which will confirm what reviewers will be asked to do for that journal.
If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to the FAQs for guidance.