1. Data Availability Statement (Mandatory)

All manuscripts submitted to Health Nexus must include a Data Availability Statement. The statement must accurately describe the availability of the data or research materials supporting the reported findings, including any applicable restrictions.

Where applicable, the statement must identify:

• Data Source: Whether the data were generated by the authors, obtained from third parties, extracted from published sources, or accessed through an existing repository or database.
• Data Location: The repository, institutional custodian, corresponding author, or other authorized source through which supporting data may be obtained.
• Access Conditions: Whether the data are openly accessible, available under controlled conditions, accessible upon justified request, or unavailable for sharing.
• Persistent Identification: A DOI, accession number, repository identifier, or stable access link where available.
• Applicable Restrictions: Relevant ethical, legal, privacy, institutional, contractual, or intellectual-property limitations.
• Access Procedure: The procedure for requesting restricted data, including the responsible custodian and any necessary authorization, where applicable.

1.1 Required Statement for Every Article Type

The Data Availability Statement requirement applies to original research, systematic reviews, narrative reviews, clinical case reports, methodological and theoretical papers, short communications, and editorials or commentaries.

For manuscripts that do not generate or analyze new underlying research datasets, authors must provide an appropriate statement explaining the nature of the work and the absence of separately generated research data. A narrative, theoretical, historical, or commentary article does not automatically require a publicly deposited dataset.

1.2 Recommended Statement Formats

Authors may adapt the following examples to the actual circumstances of their research. Statements must be accurate and must not imply that data are accessible when the relevant access conditions cannot be fulfilled.

Authors must not use a generic statement to conceal the existence of supporting data or avoid applicable data-sharing obligations. Statements concerning data availability are subject to editorial assessment.

During double-blind peer review, authors must follow the journal's anonymization requirements when identifying repositories, data custodians, or institutional information. Any information temporarily blinded for review must be restored accurately before publication.

2. Data Sharing Requirements

Health Nexus strongly encourages authors to make the data supporting their published findings accessible for responsible scholarly verification and reuse, where such sharing is ethically appropriate, legally permitted, and technically feasible.

Authors are encouraged to:

• Deposit suitable supporting datasets in recognized and reliable repositories.
• Provide persistent identifiers or stable repository links where available.
• Describe datasets sufficiently to support independent understanding and appropriate reuse.
• Share relevant data dictionaries, variable definitions, codebooks, and analytical documentation where appropriate.
• Provide sufficient methodological and analytical detail to permit evaluation of the reported results.
• Identify relevant restrictions affecting access, redistribution, or secondary analysis.
• Respect intellectual property rights, research participant protections, and applicable institutional or funder requirements.

2.1 FAIR Data Principles

Where practicable, data management and sharing arrangements should reflect the FAIR principles:

FAIR does not necessarily mean unrestricted public access. Sensitive or legally restricted datasets may remain FAIR when suitable metadata and legitimate controlled-access procedures are available.

3. Recommended Repositories

Authors should select a data repository appropriate to their research discipline, dataset characteristics, access requirements, funder conditions, and legal obligations.

3.1 General-Purpose Research Repositories

General-purpose repositories may be appropriate when no specialized disciplinary repository is available.

• Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/
• Figshare: https://figshare.com/
• Dryad: https://datadryad.org/

3.2 Discipline-Specific Repositories

Where appropriate, authors may use specialist repositories for biomedical, genomic, proteomic, imaging, public health, or other relevant research data.

The repository should be selected according to applicable disciplinary standards, data types, submission criteria, and access arrangements. Clinical trial registries and research data repositories serve different purposes and should not be treated as interchangeable.

3.3 Institutional and Controlled-Access Repositories

Institutional repositories, hospital data platforms, regulated research infrastructures, or approved controlled-access data services may be suitable where datasets cannot be made fully public.

Authors should verify that the selected repository provides appropriate data management, access control, documentation, preservation arrangements, and licensing options for the intended deposit. Naming a repository in this policy does not constitute journal endorsement or confirmation that the repository accepts every category of medical data.

4. Sensitive and Restricted Data

Health Nexus recognizes that certain research data cannot be made publicly available because of legitimate ethical, legal, privacy, institutional, contractual, security, or intellectual-property restrictions.

Restricted information may include:

• Identifiable patient records and protected health information.
• Clinical images or datasets with a material risk of identifying individuals.
• Genomic, biometric, genetic, or other potentially identifying biological information.
• Confidential interviews and sensitive qualitative research materials.
• Institutionally controlled medical or public health databases.
• Data obtained under limited-access agreements or third-party licences.
• Other protected research materials subject to applicable legal or ethical restrictions.

4.1 Responsibilities of Authors

When public data sharing is restricted, authors must:

• Explain the relevant grounds for restricting public access.
• Identify the responsible data custodian or institution where appropriate.
• Describe whether controlled access or authorized data sharing may be possible.
• Specify relevant approval, consent, contractual, or data-use conditions.
• Avoid promising access that the authors have no authority to grant.
• Provide sufficient methodological description and permitted supporting evidence for meaningful scholarly evaluation.

4.2 Controlled Access

Where appropriate, restricted datasets may be made available to qualified researchers following institutional approval, verification of a legitimate research purpose, agreement to applicable use conditions, and implementation of suitable privacy and security safeguards.

A request for access does not automatically entitle the requester to receive restricted data. Decisions remain subject to applicable law, ethical approval, consent conditions, contractual rights, and the authority of the relevant data custodian.

5. Clinical and Human Subject Data

Research involving human participants, patient records, clinical interventions, biological specimens, or identifiable health information must comply with applicable research ethics, informed consent, confidentiality, and data protection requirements.

5.1 Ethical Approval and Consent

• Data collection, processing, analysis, and sharing must comply with applicable ethics approval or a valid exemption.
• Authors must respect the scope of informed consent and applicable restrictions on secondary use.
• Where consent has been waived, authors must identify the lawful and ethical basis for the relevant data use.
• Data sharing beyond the scope of the original approval or consent may require additional authorization.

5.2 De-Identification and Re-Identification Risk

Personal identifiers must be removed, anonymized, or otherwise protected as required by the applicable data protection framework. Authors must evaluate the possibility of re-identification, particularly when datasets contain detailed clinical histories, rare conditions, genomic information, imaging data, geographic information, or combinations of indirect identifiers.

The removal of names or identification numbers alone does not necessarily make a dataset sufficiently anonymous for unrestricted public sharing.

5.3 Clinical Trial Data Sharing

Manuscripts reporting clinical trial results must comply with applicable clinical trial registration and data sharing requirements, including relevant ICMJE recommendations.

Where applicable, clinical trial data sharing statements should identify:

• Whether de-identified individual participant data will be shared.
• The specific data and data dictionaries that may be made available.
• Whether protocols, statistical analysis plans, or related documents will be available.
• The expected availability period and any relevant time limits.
• The individuals or organizations eligible to request access.
• The permitted purposes of secondary analysis and the procedure for obtaining access.
• Any changes from the data sharing plan stated in the clinical trial registration record.

In accordance with ICMJE recommendations, clinical trials beginning participant enrollment on or after January 1, 2019, must include a data sharing plan in the applicable trial registration record.

A clinical trial data sharing statement must accurately reflect whether and how the relevant data will be shared. The requirement to disclose a sharing plan does not authorize unlawful disclosure or remove the need to protect participant privacy and comply with applicable ethical conditions.

6. Data Integrity and Reporting

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, reliability, integrity, and appropriate documentation of all data and analytical materials supporting their submitted work.

Authors must ensure that:

• Research data and results are reported accurately and without fabrication or falsification.
• Data exclusions, missing observations, transformations, and analytical decisions are documented where relevant.
• Statistical methods, qualitative procedures, computational analyses, or theoretical approaches are described appropriately.
• Images and other evidentiary materials are not manipulated in a manner that misrepresents the underlying observations.
• Material data-processing steps and software procedures are reported with sufficient clarity.
• Relevant supporting records are retained in accordance with applicable institutional, ethical, funder, and legal requirements.
• Conclusions are proportionate to the quality and limitations of the supporting evidence.

6.1 Data and Materials Requested for Verification

The Editorial Office may request relevant supporting data, original images, protocols, analytical code, documentation, or other research materials during peer review or after publication where reasonably necessary to verify reported findings or assess an identified research integrity concern.

Authors must cooperate with justified editorial requests to the extent permitted by applicable law, ethics approval, consent conditions, institutional policies, and third-party rights. Where original records cannot lawfully be transmitted to the journal, an appropriate alternative verification arrangement may be considered.

The inability to provide publicly accessible raw data does not automatically establish research misconduct. However, unexplained discrepancies, unavailable supporting evidence, or material failures of documentation may require further editorial assessment under the Publication Ethics Policy.

7. Code and Software Availability

Where relevant to the reported research, Health Nexus encourages authors to make analytical code, scripts, computational workflows, and related technical documentation available for responsible verification and reproducibility.

Relevant materials may include:

• Statistical analysis scripts and computational notebooks.
• Data cleaning, transformation, and preprocessing code.
• Simulation scripts and computational models.
• Software versions, packages, and relevant dependencies.
• Configuration files and documented analytical parameters.
• Model evaluation procedures and validation materials.
• Relevant AI model information, prompts, or analytical workflows where necessary to understand the research and where lawful disclosure is possible.

7.1 Code Repositories and Version Identification

Authors may use appropriate code repositories and research archives, including GitHub and Zenodo, where consistent with applicable institutional requirements, software licences, and the nature of the materials.

Where possible, a reproducible release should identify the relevant software version, commit, tagged release, archive DOI, or other stable reference. A link to a continuously changing development repository may not by itself identify the exact code used to produce the published findings.

7.2 Proprietary Software and Restricted Code

Authors are not required to disclose source code that they lack authority to redistribute. Where proprietary, confidential, or restricted software has materially influenced the research, authors should provide sufficient methodological information to support scholarly evaluation.

7.3 Artificial Intelligence and Computational Research

Research involving artificial intelligence or machine learning should report relevant model identifiers, software versions, training and evaluation data characteristics, analytical procedures, and validation methods according to the study design. Authors must not publish restricted patient data, confidential datasets, proprietary model components, or other protected materials without appropriate authorization. Additional obligations are set out in the journal's AI & Research Integrity Policy.

8. Data Citation

Research datasets used in a manuscript must be appropriately acknowledged and cited where relevant. Accurate data citation supports attribution, verification, discovery, and responsible reuse.

Dataset citations should identify, where available:

• The dataset creator or responsible organization.
• The dataset title.
• The repository, data provider, or custodian.
• The relevant publication or release year.
• The dataset version or release identifier where available.
• The DOI, accession number, or stable access URL.
• Relevant citation or attribution information specified by the data provider.

Data sources must be identified in the manuscript and reference list as appropriate to the journal's citation requirements. Authors must acknowledge the work of researchers and institutions responsible for generating or curating third-party data.

Where research involves secondary analysis of previously published datasets, the manuscript should distinguish the present analysis from earlier studies and accurately reference the underlying dataset and relevant primary publications.

9. Post-Publication Data Access

Authors are expected to maintain the accuracy of the Data Availability Statements published with their articles and to comply with applicable commitments concerning access to supporting research data.

Following publication, authors should:

• Maintain access to deposited datasets or supporting materials within their control in accordance with applicable retention arrangements.
• Respond appropriately to legitimate requests for additional information or methodological clarification.
• Respect the privacy, security, consent, and contractual conditions governing restricted data.
• Provide updated links or identifiers when an authorized dataset is migrated to another repository.
• Notify the Editorial Office of material changes affecting the accuracy of a published Data Availability Statement.
• Cooperate with justified research integrity inquiries concerning data reliability, authenticity, or availability.

9.1 Changes in Data Availability

If data described as available become inaccessible because of repository closure, legal changes, institutional restrictions, or other material circumstances, authors should notify the Editorial Office and provide an accurate explanation and suitable alternative access information where possible.

9.2 Post-Publication Concerns

Where material data-related concerns arise after publication, the journal may request clarification, supporting documentation, or independent verification. Depending on the established facts and their effect on the reliability of the research, an appropriate correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial action may be necessary.

10. Publisher and Journal Responsibilities

Health Nexus and its publisher, Panorama Scholarly Group (PSG), support responsible data stewardship, research transparency, and scientifically appropriate data-sharing practices.

The journal and publisher seek to:

• Require Data Availability Statements: Ensure that submissions contain an appropriate statement addressing supporting research data and access conditions.
• Support Responsible Data Sharing: Encourage appropriate repositories, persistent identifiers, transparent documentation, and FAIR-aligned practices.
• Protect Research Participants: Respect legal, ethical, institutional, and privacy restrictions affecting confidential or sensitive information.
• Support Editorial Verification: Facilitate appropriate examination of data-related concerns during peer review or after publication.
• Maintain Publication Records: Support accurate publication metadata, data availability declarations, persistent identifiers, and necessary post-publication notices.
• Maintain Confidentiality: Protect restricted materials and sensitive records obtained for legitimate editorial purposes.
• Promote Reproducible Scholarship: Encourage transparent research methods, responsible code availability, accurate data citation, and appropriate supporting documentation.

10.1 Responsibility for Primary Research Data

Authors and their responsible institutions ordinarily retain responsibility for primary research data management, lawful storage, retention, access authorization, and compliance with applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the journal and publisher do not act as the permanent repository or legal custodian of authors' primary research datasets.

10.2 Distinction Between Article Preservation and Data Preservation

Health Nexus participates in LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) as part of its digital preservation framework for published scholarly content. Participation in these services does not automatically establish that externally hosted research datasets, proprietary software, or restricted clinical records are preserved by the same networks. Authors must arrange appropriate data retention and repository deposit independently where required.

11. Compliance with Standards

The journal's Data Policy is informed by internationally recognized principles concerning data sharing, medical research ethics, reproducibility, transparent reporting, and responsible research data management.

Relevant guidance includes:

• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): Recommendations concerning clinical trial registration, clinical trial data sharing statements, research ethics, and responsible medical publishing. Official Recommendations
• FAIR Data Principles: Guidance promoting findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable research data, including appropriate controlled-access arrangements. FAIR Principles
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): Relevant principles and transparency expectations concerning the availability of research and the clarity of journal policies.
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): Guidance concerning research integrity, editorial responsibility, corrections, and the reliable reporting of scientific evidence.
• Relevant Institutional and Legal Standards: Applicable human research ethics, clinical research governance, data protection requirements, funder policies, and disciplinary data management practices.

References to these standards and organizations indicate the guidance informing the journal's policy. They do not independently establish formal membership, certification, indexing, or endorsement.

This policy should be read together with the journal's Author Guidelines, Publication Ethics Policy, Copyright & Licensing Policy, and AI & Research Integrity Policy.

12. Exceptions and Flexibility

Health Nexus recognizes that research data availability and sharing arrangements must be appropriate to the study design, disciplinary context, legal obligations, and ethical circumstances.

Justified exceptions or alternative arrangements may apply when:

• Participant Privacy: Public disclosure would create a material risk to patient confidentiality or participant identification.
• Ethical Restrictions: Applicable ethics approval or consent conditions limit the release or secondary use of data.
• Legal or Contractual Conditions: Data are subject to lawful institutional, commercial, third-party, or intellectual-property restrictions.
• Unavailable Third-Party Data: The authors do not possess independent authority to distribute datasets obtained from another organization or repository.
• Theoretical or Historical Scholarship: The manuscript involves conceptual argumentation, classical textual interpretation, historical source analysis, or comparable work that does not generate a new empirical dataset.
• Narrative Reviews and Commentaries: The article synthesizes or discusses existing literature without generating separately shareable research data.
• Technical or Other Legitimate Limitations: Practical restrictions require an alternative data access or verification arrangement, supported by an adequate explanation.

12.1 Alternative Documentation

Where a full dataset cannot be shared, authors should consider whether suitable metadata, data dictionaries, analytical summaries, protocols, codebooks, approved aggregate data, or other legally permissible documentation can support evaluation and reproducibility without compromising protected information.

12.2 Editorial Assessment of Restrictions

The Editorial Office may assess the adequacy of a proposed data restriction in relation to the manuscript's research objectives, supporting evidence, ethical requirements, and scholarly claims. Additional clarification may be requested where restrictions are unclear or appear inconsistent with the study's reporting obligations.

An exception to public data sharing is not an exception to scientific honesty, appropriate documentation, or the mandatory Data Availability Statement. Authors remain responsible for providing accurate explanations and sufficient information for a proportionate scholarly assessment.