Research Data

Data availability & research data policy

Research is more trustworthy, more reproducible, and more useful when the data behind it can be examined. Every article published in a Lumora journal must state clearly where its underlying data can be found — or explain honestly why it cannot be shared.

Requirement: every article reporting original research must include a Data Availability Statement, placed before the references. Manuscripts submitted without one will be returned to the authors before review can be completed.

What the policy asks of authors

Include a Data Availability Statement in every submission, using one of the accepted templates below.
Share the data underlying the results wherever ethically and legally possible, preferably in a recognised public repository, at the latest by the date of publication.
Retain underlying data, materials, and analysis code for a reasonable period after publication, and be prepared to provide them to the editors if questions arise about the reported results.
Never fabricate a data statement: claiming data are available when they are not is a breach of our Publication Ethics policy.

Where full public sharing is not possible — for legal, ethical, or contractual reasons — authors may still publish with Lumora; the statement must simply say so transparently and describe any conditions of access.

Accepted statement templates

Authors may adapt the following templates to their circumstances:

Data in a public repository: "The data presented in this study are openly available in [repository name] at [DOI/URL], reference number [number]."
Data within the article: "All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files."
Data available on request: "The data presented in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to [reason, e.g. privacy or ethical restrictions]."
Restricted / controlled access: "The data are available from [third party / data access committee] subject to [conditions, e.g. approval of a data-use agreement], because [reason]."
Third-party data: "The data that support the findings of this study are available from [source]; restrictions apply to their availability, which were used under licence for this study. Data are available at [URL] with the permission of [source]."
No new data: "No new data were created or analysed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article."

Recommended repositories

Lumora recommends depositing data in a repository that provides a persistent identifier (DOI or equivalent), clear licensing, and long-term preservation:

Field-specific repositories first — where a recognised disciplinary repository exists (for example, GenBank or similar sequence databases for genetic data, clinical trial registries for trial data, established archives in your field), it should be the first choice, as it maximises discoverability by the relevant community.
OSF (Open Science Framework) — general-purpose, free, supports projects, preregistrations, and data.
Zenodo — general-purpose, free, CERN-hosted, assigns DOIs to datasets and code.
Dryad — curated data publishing for research data across disciplines.
Institutional repositories that issue persistent identifiers are also acceptable.

Personal websites, laboratory pages, and cloud-drive links are not acceptable as the sole location of record, because they offer no guarantee of persistence.

Sensitive and patient data

Data protection comes first. For human participant data, and other sensitive data such as the locations of endangered species:

De-identification — direct and indirect identifiers must be removed or coded before sharing. For patient data, follow recognised anonymisation standards; small samples and rare conditions require particular care because combinations of variables can re-identify individuals.
Consent — data may be shared only in ways compatible with the participants' informed consent and the approving ethics committee's conditions. We encourage researchers to seek consent for future data sharing at the study design stage.
Controlled access — where open deposit is not appropriate, use a repository or institutional mechanism offering controlled access (application, data-use agreement, or access committee), and describe the access route in the statement.
Never deposit identifiable data in an open repository. If de-identification is impossible and no controlled-access route exists, use the "available on request" or "restricted" template and state the reason.

Reporting of studies involving human data should follow the relevant EQUATOR Network guideline (for example CONSORT, STROBE, or PRISMA), and editorial handling of data concerns follows COPE and ICMJE guidance.

Data citation

Datasets are scholarly outputs and should be cited like publications. When your article uses data — your own deposited data or someone else's — cite the dataset formally in the reference list, including creators, year, title, repository, version where applicable, and persistent identifier (DOI). Dataset DOIs registered with Crossref or DataCite ensure the citation remains resolvable; see Crossref for how persistent identifiers link the scholarly record.

Code and materials

Sharing is strongly encouraged for everything needed to reproduce the reported results:

Analysis code and scripts — deposit in a repository that assigns a DOI (for example Zenodo, which can archive a specific release of a code repository), and state the software versions used.
Materials and protocols — describe novel materials, instruments, and detailed protocols sufficiently for replication, or deposit them in an appropriate repository.
Where code or materials cannot be shared, say so in the Data Availability Statement and give the reason.

How editors use this policy

Editors check that a Data Availability Statement is present and consistent with the manuscript before acceptance.
Reviewers may ask to see underlying data during review where it is necessary to evaluate the work; such requests are handled confidentially.
If post-publication concerns arise about reported results, editors may request the underlying data. Failure to provide data that the statement says are available is treated under our Corrections & Retractions Policy.

Questions about repositories, statement wording, or sensitive-data routes are welcome at Support@lumora.sa.

Last updated: July 2026 · Related: Author Guidelines, Publication Ethics, Corrections & Retractions, All Policies