Data Availability and Data Sharing Policy

The Journal of Managerial Sciences (JMS) is committed to promoting research transparency, integrity, reproducibility, and responsible data management and sharing. The journal recognizes that research in management and related social sciences may involve confidential organizational information, proprietary business data, personal or sensitive information, and other data that cannot appropriately be made publicly available.

Accordingly, JMS follows the principle:

"As open as possible, as restricted as necessary."

The journal encourages appropriate sharing of research data and supporting materials while respecting ethical, legal, confidentiality, intellectual-property, and institutional requirements.

Data Availability Statement

Authors of empirical research articles are expected to provide a Data Availability Statement as part of their manuscript.

The statement should clearly indicate how the data supporting the findings of the study can be accessed, or explain why the data cannot be made available.

Depending on the circumstances, the statement may indicate that:

the data are publicly available through a recognized repository;
the data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request;
the data are subject to ethical, legal, confidentiality, proprietary, or institutional restrictions;
the data are available from a third-party source subject to its terms of access; or
no new data were generated or analyzed.

The Data Availability Statement should accurately reflect the actual status of the research data.

Encouragement of Data Sharing

JMS encourages authors to make research data and supporting materials available whenever this can be done responsibly and without compromising legitimate ethical, legal, confidentiality, or intellectual-property requirements.

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in a recognized and reliable data repository and to provide a persistent identifier, such as a DOI.

However, JMS does not require all research data to be made publicly available.

The absence of publicly accessible data will not, by itself, constitute grounds for rejection where the authors provide a legitimate and reasonable justification.

Data Sharing on Reasonable Request

Where public deposition is not appropriate but the data can reasonably be shared, authors may make the data available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request.

An appropriate statement is:

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

The corresponding author should make reasonable efforts to respond to legitimate scholarly requests, while ensuring that any applicable restrictions are respected.

Confidential and Proprietary Data

JMS recognizes that management research frequently involves information obtained from organizations, businesses, employees, customers, institutions, and other stakeholders that may be confidential or commercially sensitive.

Examples include:

confidential company information;
proprietary business data;
commercially sensitive information;
employee or customer information;
information covered by non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements;
personally identifiable information;
sensitive interview or survey responses; and
data subject to intellectual-property restrictions.

Such data do not need to be publicly disclosed where disclosure would violate legitimate confidentiality, legal, contractual, ethical, or institutional requirements.

Authors should nevertheless provide an appropriate explanation in their Data Availability Statement.

Personal and Sensitive Data

Authors must protect the privacy, confidentiality, dignity, and rights of research participants when collecting, storing, analyzing, and sharing research data.

Personally identifiable or otherwise sensitive information should not be publicly disclosed unless appropriate consent and applicable ethical and legal requirements permit such disclosure.

Where feasible, authors are encouraged to share:

anonymized data;
de-identified data;
aggregated data; or
appropriately restricted-access datasets.

Protection of participants' privacy and welfare takes precedence over data sharing.

Ethical and Legal Compliance

Data sharing must comply with all applicable:

ethical requirements;
informed-consent conditions;
institutional policies;
laws and regulations;
contractual obligations;
confidentiality agreements; and
intellectual-property requirements.

Authors are responsible for determining whether their data can legally and ethically be shared.

Where an ethical review or institutional approval was required for the research, authors should ensure that the data-sharing arrangements are consistent with the terms of that approval.

Research Materials and Supporting Information

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to make supporting research materials available to improve transparency and reproducibility.

These may include:

questionnaires and survey instruments;
interview protocols;
measurement scales;
coding frameworks;
analytical procedures;
statistical code or scripts;
supplementary tables and figures; and
other materials necessary to understand or reproduce the research.

Such materials should only be shared where doing so does not violate copyright, confidentiality, privacy, intellectual-property, or other legitimate restrictions.

Secondary and Publicly Available Data

Authors using secondary or publicly available datasets must clearly identify the original source of the data.

Where applicable, the dataset should be properly cited and included in the references.

Authors must comply with the terms and conditions governing access to and use of third-party datasets.

Authors must not present data obtained from another source as original data generated by the authors.

Data Integrity and Research Misconduct

Authors are responsible for maintaining the integrity and authenticity of the data underlying their research.

Fabrication, falsification, manipulation, selective reporting, or intentional concealment of data that materially misrepresents research findings constitutes a serious breach of research integrity.

Where credible concerns arise regarding the authenticity, integrity, or availability of research data, JMS may request relevant supporting information from the authors.

Serious concerns may be investigated in accordance with the journal's Research Misconduct Policy and applicable publication-ethics principles.

Editorial Requests for Data

The Editor-in-Chief or authorized editorial team may request access to relevant underlying data, research materials, analytical procedures, or other supporting information where necessary to:

assess the validity of reported findings;
investigate concerns regarding research integrity;
evaluate methodological questions;
address allegations of data fabrication or falsification; or
support the editorial assessment of a manuscript.

Such requests will take into account confidentiality, privacy, ethical obligations, intellectual property, and applicable legal restrictions.

Where data cannot be provided, authors may be asked to explain the reasons and provide alternative evidence supporting the validity of the research.

Legitimate Exceptions to Data Sharing

JMS recognizes that data sharing may not always be possible or appropriate.

Authors may restrict or withhold data where sharing would:

compromise participant privacy or confidentiality;
violate informed-consent conditions;
breach ethical or institutional requirements;
violate applicable laws or regulations;
breach contractual or confidentiality obligations;
disclose proprietary or commercially sensitive information;
infringe intellectual-property rights; or
create a legitimate risk of harm to individuals, organizations, or other stakeholders.

In such circumstances, authors should provide a transparent explanation in the Data Availability Statement.

Data Availability Statement Examples

Authors may use or adapt the following statements.

Publicly Available Data

"The data supporting the findings of this study are publicly available in [repository name] at [DOI/persistent identifier]."

Data Available Upon Reasonable Request

Confidential or Proprietary Data

"The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available because they contain confidential/proprietary information and are subject to applicable restrictions."

Third-Party Data

"The data used in this study were obtained from [data source]. The data are subject to the provider's access and use conditions and may be obtained from the original source subject to those conditions."

Restricted Access Data

"The data supporting the findings of this study are available under restricted access because of ethical, privacy, legal, or confidentiality considerations. Requests for access should be directed to the corresponding author."

No New Data

"Data availability is not applicable to this study because no new data were generated or analyzed."

Editorial Discretion

JMS will apply this policy proportionately, taking into account the nature of the research, the type of data involved, disciplinary practices, and legitimate restrictions on data sharing.

The journal does not require authors to compromise participant confidentiality, organizational confidentiality, intellectual-property rights, or legal obligations in order to satisfy data-sharing expectations.

Publication of the Data Availability Statement

Where applicable, the Data Availability Statement will be published with the article and will form part of the permanent scholarly record.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that repository links, identifiers, and access information provided in the statement are accurate.

Policy Principle

JMS seeks to balance openness and transparency with responsible research practice.

Accordingly:

Data Availability Statement — expected for empirical research

Public data sharing — encouraged where appropriate

Data sharing upon reasonable request — acceptable

Confidential/restricted data — permitted with appropriate justification

Protection of participants and legitimate organizational interests — mandatory

Editorial verification of underlying data — permitted where reasonably necessary

Through this approach, JMS seeks to strengthen research transparency and integrity while recognizing the particular ethical, organizational, commercial, and methodological realities of management and social-science research.

Data Availability and Data Sharing Policy

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