Data Availability and Reproducibility

1. Introduction

The International Journal of Agricultural Sciences (IJASC) is committed to promoting transparency, scientific integrity, methodological rigor, and reproducibility in agricultural research and related scientific disciplines. The journal recognizes that the availability of research data, together with sufficiently detailed descriptions of research methods, analytical procedures, experimental conditions, and supporting materials, is fundamental to the verification, interpretation, and advancement of scientific knowledge.

Research findings should be reported in a manner that enables other researchers to understand how the results were obtained, evaluate the evidence supporting the conclusions, and, where feasible, reproduce the analytical procedures or repeat the relevant experiments. Transparent access to research data and supporting materials can strengthen scientific accountability, facilitate independent verification, encourage collaboration, reduce unnecessary duplication of research, and support the responsible reuse of scientific evidence.

In agricultural sciences, the reproducibility of research may depend on the availability of field and laboratory measurements, experimental designs, sampling procedures, soil and plant characteristics, environmental and climatic observations, agricultural inputs, biological materials, analytical protocols, statistical procedures, computational models, software, and other information necessary to interpret or verify the reported findings. IJASC therefore recognizes that data availability and reproducibility must be considered in relation to the methodological characteristics of each study.

This policy establishes the journal's expectations regarding the disclosure, preservation, sharing, citation, and responsible management of research data and supporting materials. It also describes the responsibilities of authors, editors, and peer reviewers in ensuring that research findings are adequately supported by accessible evidence and transparent methods.

IJASC encourages authors to make research data and relevant supporting materials openly available whenever this is ethically, legally, contractually, and scientifically appropriate. The journal also recognizes that some data cannot be made publicly accessible because of privacy concerns, confidentiality obligations, intellectual property rights, institutional restrictions, third-party agreements, or other legitimate limitations. Such restrictions must be justified transparently and must not be used to conceal research procedures or avoid reasonable scrutiny of scientific claims.

This policy is informed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices, particularly its guidance on data and reproducibility, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. It is intended to support responsible data-sharing practices while safeguarding research participants, institutions, communities, and legitimate data ownership interests.

2. Description

2.1. Research Data

For the purposes of this policy, research data refer to information, observations, measurements, records, or other materials collected, generated, processed, or analyzed in the course of conducting research and used to support the findings reported in a manuscript.

Research data may include, but are not limited to:

Raw and processed numerical data.
Experimental measurements and laboratory observations.
Field observations, crop measurements, soil properties, and agricultural production records.
Biological, botanical, genetic, microbiological, and biochemical data.
Climate, weather, hydrological, geographical, and environmental measurements.
Survey responses, interview records, questionnaires, and observational records, where applicable.
Images, photographs, microscopy images, remote-sensing imagery, maps, and other visual records.
Tables, spreadsheets, databases, and statistical output files.
Computational scripts, source code, software, algorithms, and analytical workflows.
Mathematical models, simulation outputs, model parameters, and validation data.
Research protocols, experimental procedures, laboratory methods, sampling schemes, and measurement instruments.
Supplementary materials necessary to interpret, verify, or reproduce the reported findings.

The specific materials that should be made available depend on the research design, the nature of the evidence, and the requirements for verifying the reported conclusions.

2.2. Data Availability

Data availability refers to the extent to which the data supporting a research article can be located, accessed, examined, and reused by other researchers under clearly specified conditions.

Data may be made available through a recognized public repository, an institutional or disciplinary repository, supplementary files accompanying an article, a controlled-access repository, or another legitimate arrangement that allows researchers to obtain the relevant materials.

Data availability does not necessarily require unrestricted public access to every underlying record. Where legitimate restrictions apply, authors must explain the restrictions and identify the appropriate mechanism for access, if access can be provided.

A statement that data are available upon reasonable request must accurately reflect the authors' ability and willingness to provide access and must not be used as a substitute for public sharing when unrestricted sharing is feasible and appropriate.

2.3. Reproducibility and Replicability

IJASC recognizes that reproducibility and replicability may have different meanings across research disciplines and methodological traditions. For this policy, the terms are used as follows:

Reproducibility refers to the ability to obtain consistent analytical results using the same underlying data, computational procedures, software, and sufficiently documented analytical workflow, where applicable.

Replicability refers to the ability of independent researchers to investigate the same or a comparable research question through a new study, repeated experiment, or independent data collection and obtain results that are sufficiently consistent to support the relevant scientific conclusions, taking into account expected variation.

The extent to which a study can be reproduced or replicated depends on its research design, the variability of the subject under investigation, available resources, ethical and legal constraints, and the characteristics of the scientific method employed.

IJASC does not require every agricultural study to produce identical results when repeated. Biological systems, environmental conditions, seasonal variation, soil characteristics, experimental locations, and other factors may legitimately affect outcomes. Instead, authors must report their methods and findings with sufficient transparency to allow appropriate verification, interpretation, and, where feasible, repetition of the research.

2.4. Research Materials and Analytical Resources

Research materials include resources necessary to understand, verify, or reproduce the methods and findings reported in a manuscript. Depending on the study, these may include:

Experimental protocols and standard operating procedures.
Questionnaires, survey instruments, and interview guides.
Laboratory procedures, analytical methods, and calibration information.
Statistical analysis scripts and computational notebooks.
Software packages, model specifications, algorithms, and parameter settings.
Data dictionaries, codebooks, metadata, and file descriptions.
Information about instruments, equipment, reagents, biological materials, and relevant experimental conditions.
Documentation describing data cleaning, exclusions, transformations, and quality-control procedures.

Authors should distinguish between materials that are essential for evaluating the reported findings and materials that are supplementary or unnecessary for verification.

2.5. Data Integrity and Provenance

Data integrity refers to the accuracy, consistency, completeness, and reliability of research data and their representation in a manuscript. Data provenance refers to the origin of data and the processes through which the data were collected, generated, transferred, processed, transformed, or analyzed.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that data and supporting materials accurately reflect the research conducted. They must not fabricate, falsify, selectively manipulate, or misrepresent data, nor should they omit material information in a manner that makes the reported results misleading.

Where data have been obtained from external repositories, public databases, government agencies, research institutions, commercial providers, or other third parties, authors must identify the sources and comply with the applicable terms of use, licensing conditions, and citation requirements.

3. Policy

3.1. Data Availability Statement

IJASC requires authors of research articles to include a Data Availability Statement (DAS) in the submitted manuscript. The statement will be published with the article to inform readers whether the data supporting the findings are publicly accessible, included in supplementary materials, available under controlled conditions, obtainable upon reasonable request, or unavailable for a clearly stated reason.

The statement must be accurate, specific, and consistent with the actual status of the data at the time of submission and publication.

For articles that do not generate or analyze new research data, authors must provide an appropriate statement explaining that data availability is not applicable or that no new data were created or analyzed, as appropriate to the article type.

IJASC may request clarification or revision of a Data Availability Statement if it is incomplete, misleading, inconsistent with the manuscript, or insufficient to establish how the supporting evidence may be accessed.

3.2. Data Sharing and Public Accessibility

IJASC strongly encourages authors to make the data and materials necessary to understand, verify, and, where feasible, reproduce their findings publicly available whenever ethically, legally, and contractually permissible.

Preferred approaches include:

Depositing data in a trusted public, institutional, or disciplinary repository.
Providing supplementary data files alongside the published article.
Sharing relevant code, protocols, analytical scripts, and other supporting materials through appropriate repositories.
Providing controlled access to qualified researchers where unrestricted public access is not appropriate.
Providing access upon reasonable request where public deposition is not feasible and a legitimate justification exists.

Where possible, authors should use repositories that provide persistent identifiers, reliable access, appropriate documentation, and long-term preservation. A persistent identifier, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), should be provided when available.

The journal encourages the principle that data should be made as openly accessible as possible and as restricted as necessary to protect legitimate ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property interests.

3.3. Exceptions to Public Data Sharing

IJASC recognizes that not all research data can be shared openly. Exceptions may be appropriate when data are subject to:

Personal privacy or confidentiality requirements.
Informed-consent limitations or research ethics conditions.
Legal or regulatory restrictions.
Confidentiality agreements or contractual obligations.
Third-party ownership or licensing restrictions.
Intellectual property rights or legitimate commercial confidentiality.
Restrictions imposed by research institutions, funding bodies, or data providers.
Risks to individuals, communities, ecosystems, endangered species, or sensitive agricultural and biological resources.
Other justified circumstances that make unrestricted sharing inappropriate.

Authors who cannot share data publicly must explain the relevant restriction in the Data Availability Statement. Where possible, they should provide a reasonable alternative, such as access to anonymized or aggregated data, non-sensitive supporting materials, derived datasets, or controlled access for qualified researchers.

Authors must not claim that data are confidential merely to avoid scrutiny of their methods or findings. Restrictions must be genuine, proportionate, and consistent with applicable obligations.

3.4. Data Citation and Acknowledgment

Authors must appropriately cite datasets used in their research, whether the data were created by the authors or obtained from external sources.

Where a dataset is publicly available, its citation should include, where applicable:

The name of the creator or responsible organization.
The title of the dataset.
The year of publication or release.
The repository or data provider.
The version or accession number, where available.
A persistent identifier, such as a DOI, or a stable URL.
Relevant licensing or access information when required.

Dataset citations should appear in the manuscript and reference list in accordance with the journal's referencing requirements.

Authors should also cite relevant software, analytical tools, models, protocols, and other research outputs that materially contribute to the study. Proper citation acknowledges the contributions of data creators, supports traceability, and allows readers to locate the resources used.

3.5. Transparency of Research Methods

Authors must describe their research methods in sufficient detail to allow readers to understand how the study was conducted and how the reported results were obtained.

Depending on the study, the Methods section should provide relevant information about:

Research design and objectives.
Study location, experimental site, or sampling context.
Study period, seasons, environmental conditions, and relevant site characteristics.
Sampling procedures, sample size, selection criteria, and experimental units.
Materials, instruments, equipment, biological resources, and agricultural inputs.
Experimental treatments, controls, replications, and randomization procedures, where applicable.
Data collection procedures and measurement techniques.
Laboratory methods, analytical standards, and calibration procedures.
Data cleaning, exclusion criteria, transformations, and preprocessing.
Statistical tests, model assumptions, significance criteria, and analytical procedures.
Software names, versions, relevant packages, and computational settings.
Validation procedures, uncertainty assessment, and limitations affecting interpretation.

Authors must report any material deviations from planned or established methods and explain analytical choices that could substantially affect the results.

Where established reporting guidelines are relevant to a study design, authors are encouraged to follow those guidelines to improve the completeness and clarity of reporting.

3.6. Code, Software, Models, and Computational Workflows

For research involving statistical computing, simulation, mathematical modeling, machine learning, image analysis, geospatial analysis, or other computational methods, authors are strongly encouraged to share the code, scripts, models, or workflows necessary to understand and, where feasible, reproduce the reported analyses.

Shared computational materials should be accompanied by adequate documentation, including relevant software and package versions, dependencies, input requirements, model parameters, execution instructions, and known limitations.

Where complete code sharing is not possible because of licensing, confidentiality, security, or other legitimate restrictions, authors must explain the limitation and provide sufficient methodological information for readers to assess the analytical approach.

Authors must not claim that a computational analysis is reproducible solely because software or code has been identified. The available documentation and supporting materials should be sufficient to explain how the reported results were generated.

3.7. Data Retention and Preservation

Authors are expected to retain original research data and relevant supporting records for a reasonable period after publication, taking into account institutional policies, funder requirements, applicable laws, disciplinary standards, and the nature of the research.

The journal encourages authors to preserve data, metadata, protocols, analysis files, and other relevant materials in secure and reliable storage systems that protect data integrity and facilitate retrieval when necessary.

Where feasible, authors should deposit shareable datasets in repositories that support long-term preservation and persistent identification.

Authors must be prepared to provide relevant underlying data and supporting information to the journal when reasonably requested for editorial assessment, verification of findings, investigation of a credible concern, or correction of the scholarly record, subject to legitimate ethical, legal, confidentiality, and ownership restrictions.

The specific retention period should follow the applicable institutional or funder requirements. IJASC should establish and communicate a journal-specific retention period if it intends to impose a uniform requirement.

3.8. Editorial Assessment and Peer Review

Editors may assess whether the Data Availability Statement is sufficiently clear and whether the manuscript describes the methods and supporting evidence adequately.

Where relevant and feasible, peer reviewers may be invited to evaluate the availability and suitability of datasets, code, protocols, supplementary materials, or other resources that support the manuscript's findings.

Editors may request additional documentation, access to underlying data, or clarification of analytical procedures when necessary to evaluate a submission or address concerns about the validity, completeness, or reproducibility of the reported results.

Access to confidential or restricted data must be managed responsibly. The journal must not require authors to disclose information in a manner that violates applicable law, research ethics obligations, legitimate confidentiality agreements, or third-party rights.

An inability to provide public access does not automatically justify rejection. However, where essential evidence cannot be made available to the journal for a legitimate editorial assessment and the resulting uncertainty materially affects confidence in the manuscript, the journal may determine that the submission cannot proceed.

3.9. Research Registration and Reporting Guidelines

Where applicable to the research design, IJASC encourages authors to register studies, protocols, or research plans in an appropriate public registry before data collection or analysis, where prospective registration is recognized and suitable within the relevant discipline.

Registration may be relevant to particular types of experimental research, systematic reviews, clinical or intervention studies, and other study designs for which a recognized registration framework exists.

Authors should identify any relevant registration record in the manuscript, including the registry name, registration number, and persistent link, where applicable.

The journal also encourages authors to follow established reporting guidelines relevant to their research methods. Such guidelines can help ensure that study design, data collection, analytical procedures, and reporting decisions are described comprehensively.

Registration is not applicable to every agricultural study and should not be imposed indiscriminately where no appropriate registry or established registration practice exists.

3.10. Data Availability and Reproducibility Concerns After Publication

If concerns are raised after publication about data availability, data integrity, analytical procedures, or the reproducibility of a study, IJASC will assess the concerns in accordance with its publication ethics and research misconduct procedures.

The journal may contact the corresponding author or other authors to request clarification, supporting documentation, access to relevant data, or an explanation of the methods used.

Where appropriate, the journal may seek independent expert advice or refer the matter to the relevant institution, data owner, or responsible authority. Investigations should be conducted fairly and proportionately, with due regard for confidentiality and the rights of all parties.

Depending on the findings, appropriate actions may include:

Requesting additional documentation or clarification.
Correcting an inaccurate or incomplete Data Availability Statement.
Publishing a correction to the article.
Publishing an expression of concern where significant questions remain unresolved.
Retracting the article when the evidence justifies retraction under the journal's applicable policy.
Referring suspected research misconduct to an appropriate institution or authority.

The journal will distinguish between a technical limitation, a legitimate access restriction, an honest error, and evidence of fabrication, falsification, or other serious misconduct. Any action must be proportionate to the evidence and the implications for the reliability of the scholarly record.

4. Technicalities to Achieve and Materialise the Policies

A. Data Availability Statement (DAS)

1. Mandatory Requirement

All research articles submitted to IJASC must include a Data Availability Statement. The statement should be included in the manuscript in the location specified by the journal's Instructions for Authors and should be published with the final article.

The statement must identify the status of the underlying data and explain how readers may access them, where applicable.

Authors should ensure that repository links, DOIs, accession numbers, and other access information are accurate and functional at the time of submission and publication.

2. Acceptable Data Availability Statements

The following examples may be adapted to the circumstances of each manuscript.

a. Publicly available data

“The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in [Repository Name] at [DOI or persistent URL].”

b. Data provided as supplementary material

“The data supporting the findings of this study are available in the supplementary materials accompanying this article.”

c. Data available upon reasonable request

“The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable ethical, legal, and confidentiality requirements.”

Authors using this statement must ensure that the data can reasonably be provided and should identify any material conditions that govern access. The statement should not be used when authors no longer possess the data or lack authority to share them.

d. Data subject to restrictions

“The data supporting the findings of this study are subject to restrictions due to [specify the reason, such as confidentiality, privacy, contractual obligations, or third-party ownership]. Access may be considered for qualified researchers through [specify the responsible contact or access procedure], subject to the applicable requirements.”

e. No new data created or analyzed

“No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data availability is therefore not applicable.”

This statement may be appropriate for conceptual, theoretical, or other articles that do not create or analyze research datasets. Authors should adapt the wording for review articles that analyze or synthesize existing datasets.

f. Third-party data

“The data analyzed in this study were obtained from [source or repository] and are available at [DOI or URL], subject to the access and reuse conditions specified by the data provider.”

g. Controlled-access data

“The data supporting the findings of this study are available through controlled access from [repository or responsible organization]. Access is subject to [state the applicable eligibility requirements, approvals, or data-use agreement].”

h. Embargoed data

“The data supporting the findings of this study have been deposited in [repository] and are subject to an embargo until [date or specified condition]. The data will become available at [DOI or persistent URL] when the embargo expires, subject to the repository's terms.”

An embargo must be justified, consistent with applicable agreements and journal requirements, and clearly described. It must not be used to conceal material evidence or circumvent an editorial requirement.

B. Selection of Data Repositories

Authors are encouraged to use recognized and trusted repositories appropriate to the type of data and the relevant research discipline.

Possible options include:

General-purpose repositories: Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad, and the Open Science Framework (OSF).
Institutional repositories: Repositories maintained by universities or research institutions.
Discipline-specific repositories: Repositories designed for particular forms of agricultural, biological, genetic, environmental, climatic, geospatial, or other scientific data.
Official public databases: Governmental or research-agency databases that provide stable access to relevant datasets.

These examples are illustrative and do not constitute an exclusive or mandatory list.

When selecting a repository, authors should consider whether it provides persistent identifiers, appropriate metadata, clear access conditions, version control where relevant, and adequate long-term preservation.

Where possible, authors should deposit data in a repository before or during manuscript submission and include the persistent identifier or a stable link in the Data Availability Statement.

C. Data Organization, Formatting, and Documentation

Shared data should be organized in a manner that allows other researchers to understand the structure, meaning, units, and limitations of the information.

Authors should, where applicable:

Use commonly accessible file formats and, where feasible, non-proprietary formats.
Provide a README file explaining the contents of the dataset and the organization of its files.
Include a data dictionary or codebook defining variables, labels, units, abbreviations, and coding schemes.
Identify the origin of the data, the period of collection, the location or study context, and the relevant experimental or observational conditions.
Describe missing values, exclusions, transformations, data cleaning, and quality-control procedures.
Identify relevant software, analytical tools, and version information.
Explain known limitations, uncertainty, and restrictions affecting data interpretation or reuse.
Provide sufficient metadata to support the discovery, interpretation, and responsible reuse of the dataset.

For agricultural experiments, documentation may also include crop varieties, soil characteristics, treatment descriptions, fertilizer or pesticide application rates, irrigation procedures, planting and harvesting dates, experimental layouts, replication, weather conditions, and other factors necessary to interpret the findings.

The level of documentation should be appropriate to the study design and the materials being shared.

D. Data, Code, Software, and Model Citation

Authors must cite datasets obtained from external sources and should formally cite their own deposited datasets when these are used to support the published findings.

Where available, citations should include the creator, title, year, repository, version, DOI or other persistent identifier, and relevant access information.

Software, code, analytical scripts, models, and other resources that materially contribute to the research should also be cited where appropriate.

Where the same dataset is updated or released in multiple versions, authors should identify the version used in the study whenever possible. This helps readers establish which data were used to generate the reported results.

E. Peer Review and Editorial Verification

During peer review, editors may request relevant underlying data, supplementary files, protocols, code, or other documentation when necessary to assess the manuscript.

Peer reviewers may be invited to examine shared materials within the limits of their expertise and the review process. They must treat unpublished data and supporting materials as confidential and must not use them for personal or professional advantage.

Authors should respond to reasonable editorial requests for data or methodological clarification in a timely manner. Where a request cannot be fulfilled, authors must explain the reason and, where possible, provide an appropriate alternative that allows the journal to assess the relevant concern.

Any access to confidential or controlled data must follow the applicable ethical, legal, contractual, and institutional requirements.

F. Data Retention and Responsible Management

Authors should maintain secure copies of original data, processed datasets, analytical records, protocols, and relevant supporting materials for the period required by their institution, funder, applicable law, or other relevant standards.

IJASC encourages authors to maintain a clear record of data collection, processing, analysis, storage, and sharing decisions. Such records may be needed to clarify research procedures, address questions from readers, verify findings, or correct the scholarly record.

The journal should establish a specific minimum retention period only after considering applicable institutional requirements, funder conditions, and the practical needs of the journal. Until such a period has been formally adopted, authors should follow the applicable requirements governing their research.

G. Exceptions, Confidentiality, and Embargoes

Authors seeking an exception to public data sharing must explain the reason in the Data Availability Statement and identify the applicable restrictions.

Where feasible and appropriate, authors should consider alternative ways to support verification, including:

Sharing anonymized or aggregated data.
Providing non-sensitive data subsets.
Depositing data in a controlled-access repository.
Sharing code, protocols, metadata, or derived results that do not disclose restricted information.
Providing access to qualified researchers through an approved process.
Explaining why particular data cannot be shared and identifying the relevant authority or conditions.

Authors must not share data in violation of informed consent, research ethics approval, data protection requirements, intellectual property rights, or legitimate confidentiality agreements.

Requests for embargoes should state the reason and expected duration. The journal may assess whether an embargo is justified and compatible with the requirements for editorial evaluation and publication.

H. Post-Publication Procedures

When a credible concern arises about the availability, integrity, or reproducibility of published research, IJASC may request relevant data, documentation, or clarification from the authors.

Authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable inquiries and to provide accurate explanations of the data and methods supporting their work, subject to legitimate restrictions.

If the concern is substantiated, the journal will determine the appropriate response in accordance with its publication ethics, allegations of misconduct, and correction and retraction policies.

The journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature of the problem and its implications for the validity and reliability of the published findings.

I. Policy Review and Implementation

The editorial leadership of IJASC is responsible for implementing and periodically reviewing this policy. The journal should ensure that the Data Availability Statement requirement, data-sharing expectations, repository guidance, and editorial verification procedures are communicated clearly through its Instructions for Authors and relevant editorial workflows.

Any substantial revision should be approved through the journal's appropriate governance process and communicated transparently to authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.

References and Related Guidance

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Core Practices: Data and Reproducibility. Available at: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.12
EQUATOR Network. Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research. Available at: https://www.equator-network.org/

Implementation note for IJASC: Before publishing this policy, the editorial team should confirm the required placement of the Data Availability Statement, the types of articles to which it applies, the procedure for requesting underlying data during peer review, and the minimum data-retention period, if a uniform period is to be adopted. Repository examples and reporting-guideline references should be reviewed periodically for relevance to agricultural research and the journal's scope.