Journal of Dance and Embodied Structure is committed to transparency, research integrity, responsible data management, and ethical access to research materials. This policy explains the journal’s expectations regarding the availability, documentation, citation, sharing, restriction, and preservation of data and research materials associated with published articles.

The journal recognizes that research in dance studies, embodied research, choreography, performance studies, movement analysis, somatic practices, artistic research, and related interdisciplinary fields may involve many different forms of data and materials. These may include textual data, interviews, field notes, images, videos, performance documentation, archival materials, movement notation, motion capture records, digital media, practice-based research documentation, and culturally sensitive materials.

1. General Principle

Authors are encouraged to make the data and materials supporting their research available whenever this is ethically, legally, culturally, and practically possible.

Data sharing should support transparency, verification, reuse, and scholarly exchange. However, data availability must not compromise participant privacy, consent, copyright, cultural rights, community expectations, archival restrictions, performer rights, or other ethical and legal obligations.

2. Definition of Data and Research Materials

For the purposes of this policy, data and research materials may include, but are not limited to:

• Interview transcripts;
• Survey responses;
• Field notes and ethnographic records;
• Performance documentation;
• Rehearsal notes and process documentation;
• Movement analysis records;
• Motion capture data;
• Video, audio, and photographic materials;
• Movement notation, diagrams, and scores;
• Archival documents and images;
• Digital files, code, scripts, or software tools;
• Practice-based research documentation;
• Analytical coding materials;
• Statistical data or processed datasets;
• Supplementary materials supporting the article’s claims.

3. Data Availability Statement

Authors should include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript where applicable. The statement should explain whether the data, materials, documentation, or other resources supporting the article are available, how they may be accessed, and whether any restrictions apply.

The Data Availability Statement should be clear, accurate, and consistent with consent, ethics approval, copyright permissions, archival conditions, and legal obligations.

4. Standard Data Availability Statement Examples

Authors may use or adapt one of the following statements:

Data available in a public repository:

Data Availability: The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in [Repository Name] at [DOI, persistent identifier, or URL].

Data available upon reasonable request:

Data Availability: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Data not publicly available due to ethical restrictions:

Data Availability: The data are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions related to participant privacy, consent, or confidentiality.

Data not publicly available due to copyright or permission restrictions:

Data Availability: The data are not publicly available due to copyright, licensing, or third-party permission restrictions.

Data not publicly available due to cultural or community restrictions:

Data Availability: The data are not publicly available due to cultural protocols, community restrictions, or the sensitive nature of the materials.

No datasets generated or analyzed:

Data Availability: Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Data included within the article:

Data Availability: All data supporting the findings of this study are included within the article.

5. Public Data Sharing

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit data or supporting materials in a recognized public repository, institutional repository, disciplinary repository, archive, or other stable platform.

Repositories should provide stable access, persistent identifiers where possible, clear licensing information, and sufficient metadata to enable discovery and reuse.

Authors should ensure that publicly shared data are complete enough to support the claims made in the article, while also respecting ethical, legal, copyright, and cultural restrictions.

6. Restricted Data

Some research materials cannot be made publicly available. Restrictions may be necessary where data involve privacy, confidentiality, copyright, performer rights, community protocols, unpublished artistic work, sensitive cultural materials, or contractual obligations.

Restricted data may include:

• Identifiable interview transcripts;
• Private field notes;
• Images or videos of identifiable individuals without permission for public release;
• Documentation from private rehearsals, classrooms, workshops, or community events;
• Unpublished choreographic materials;
• Performance documentation owned by artists, companies, photographers, or institutions;
• Archival materials subject to access restrictions;
• Traditional, ritual, Indigenous, local, or culturally sensitive materials;
• Materials involving minors or vulnerable individuals;
• Data governed by legal, institutional, or contractual restrictions.

When data are restricted, authors should explain the reason for restriction in the Data Availability Statement.

7. Human Participants and Personal Data

Research involving human participants must protect privacy, dignity, safety, and rights. Authors must not share personally identifiable data unless appropriate consent, ethical approval, and legal basis have been obtained.

This applies to materials such as:

• Interview recordings and transcripts;
• Survey responses containing identifiable information;
• Images, video, or audio recordings of participants;
• Movement recordings or bodily data;
• Classroom, rehearsal, workshop, or community documentation;
• Personal narratives, oral histories, or sensitive experiences.

Where possible, data should be anonymized or de-identified before sharing. However, authors should recognize that anonymization may not always be sufficient in small communities, distinctive performance contexts, or highly identifiable artistic settings.

8. Consent for Data Sharing

Authors should ensure that participant consent covers the intended form of data use, storage, sharing, and publication.

If consent was obtained only for research use and not for public sharing, authors should not make the relevant data publicly available.

Where data sharing is limited by consent conditions, this should be stated clearly in the Data Availability Statement.

9. Practice-Based and Artistic Research Materials

Practice-based and practice-led research may involve artistic process materials, rehearsal documentation, choreographic notes, movement scores, video records, creative journals, reflective writing, sketches, sound files, digital media, and other forms of embodied or artistic documentation.

Authors are encouraged to make such materials available where appropriate and where permissions allow. However, artistic materials may be restricted when they involve unfinished work, collaborative ownership, performer consent, institutional rights, copyright, or cultural sensitivity.

Authors should explain clearly what materials are available and what materials cannot be shared.

10. Performance Documentation

Performance documentation, including photographs, video recordings, rehearsal images, stage documentation, screendance materials, and festival records, may be subject to multiple rights and permissions.

Authors should not make performance documentation publicly available unless they have appropriate permission from relevant rights holders. These may include choreographers, performers, companies, photographers, videographers, producers, venues, archives, institutions, or communities.

Where performance documentation is cited or analyzed but cannot be shared, authors should provide sufficient descriptive information, citation, or access details where permitted.

11. Archival Materials

Research using archival materials must comply with the access, citation, reproduction, and sharing conditions of the archive or collection.

Authors should not upload, reproduce, or redistribute restricted archival materials without permission. Where archival materials cannot be shared publicly, authors should provide accurate citations and access information where permitted by the archive.

12. Cultural and Community Restrictions

Research involving traditional dance, ritual movement, Indigenous knowledge, local community practices, religious performance, community archives, or culturally restricted materials may require special care.

Data sharing should respect cultural protocols, community expectations, collective rights, and restrictions on circulation or interpretation.

Authors should avoid making culturally sensitive materials publicly available without appropriate permission, consultation, or ethical justification.

13. Copyright and Licensing of Data

Authors are responsible for ensuring that any shared data or research materials do not infringe copyright, licensing agreements, contractual terms, performer rights, moral rights, privacy rights, or third-party rights.

Where data or materials are deposited in a repository, authors should select an appropriate license where possible. The selected license should be consistent with permissions, consent, ownership, and intended reuse.

Third-party materials should not be shared under an open license unless the author has the legal right to do so.

14. Data Citation

Authors should cite datasets, repositories, archives, software, code, digital materials, and other research resources where applicable.

Data citations should include enough information to identify and locate the material, such as author or creator, title, year, repository or archive name, version, persistent identifier, DOI, accession number, or URL.

Data citation supports transparency, credit, and reproducibility.

15. Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary materials where these support the article’s argument, evidence, method, or interpretation.

Supplementary materials may include:

• Additional figures or tables;
• Movement diagrams;
• Notation examples;
• Interview guides;
• Survey instruments;
• Analytical coding schemes;
• Methodological appendices;
• Links to video or audio documentation;
• Descriptions of practice-based research materials;
• Code or scripts used for analysis.

Supplementary materials must comply with the journal’s ethical, copyright, consent, and formatting requirements.

16. Data Availability and Peer Review

Reviewers or editors may request access to data, documentation, permissions, or supplementary materials where necessary to evaluate the manuscript.

Authors should be prepared to provide reasonable clarification or supporting materials during peer review, subject to ethical, legal, copyright, or confidentiality restrictions.

Failure to provide necessary clarification may affect editorial assessment.

17. Data Integrity

Authors must present data, documentation, and research materials accurately and honestly. Fabrication, falsification, manipulation, selective reporting, or misleading presentation of data is unacceptable.

Authors should not alter images, videos, movement records, interview transcripts, field notes, archival materials, or analytical outputs in ways that misrepresent evidence.

Any editing of images, recordings, or documentation should be disclosed where it affects interpretation.

18. AI-Generated or AI-Processed Data

Where artificial intelligence tools are used to process, generate, classify, annotate, translate, transcribe, analyze, or visualize data, authors should disclose this use where relevant and explain the method clearly.

Authors should specify:

• The AI tool or system used;
• The type of data or materials processed;
• The purpose of the AI-assisted process;
• How outputs were checked, corrected, or validated;
• Any limitations, risks, or uncertainties associated with the tool.

AI-generated materials must not be presented as authentic fieldwork data, archival records, performance documentation, interview materials, or empirical evidence unless their generated nature is clearly disclosed.

19. Data Retention

Authors are encouraged to retain the data and materials supporting their article for a reasonable period after publication, subject to ethical approval, consent conditions, institutional rules, legal obligations, and disciplinary standards.

Retention is especially important where data may be needed to verify findings, address post-publication questions, correct errors, or respond to ethical concerns.

20. Sensitive Data

Sensitive data should not be shared publicly unless appropriate consent, safeguards, legal basis, and ethical approval have been obtained.

Sensitive data may include:

• Personal or identifiable information;
• Health-related information;
• Information about minors or vulnerable individuals;
• Culturally restricted materials;
• Private community knowledge;
• Unpublished artistic work;
• Confidential institutional or archival materials;
• Materials that may expose participants, artists, communities, or institutions to harm.

When in doubt, authors should prioritize participant safety, cultural responsibility, legal compliance, and ethical integrity over unrestricted data sharing.

21. Data Availability and Article Processing Charges

Data availability requirements are independent of Article Processing Charges. Payment, waiver status, or financial arrangements do not affect the journal’s expectations regarding research transparency, ethical compliance, or data integrity.

22. Corrections and Post-Publication Concerns

If concerns arise after publication regarding data accuracy, availability, permissions, consent, copyright, fabrication, manipulation, or ethical restrictions, the Editorial Office may investigate and take appropriate action.

Possible actions may include requesting clarification, publishing a correction, updating a Data Availability Statement, removing restricted materials, issuing an expression of concern, or retracting the article in serious cases.

23. Relationship with Other Journal Policies

This Data Availability Policy should be read together with the journal’s related policies, including:

• Publication Ethics;
• Author Guidelines;
• Peer Review Process;
• Copyright and Licensing;
• AI and Research Integrity Policy;
• Conflict of Interest Policy;
• Corrections and Retractions;
• Complaints and Appeals;
• Archiving and Preservation.

24. Policy Updates

The journal may update this Data Availability Policy when necessary to reflect changes in research ethics, data sharing standards, repository practices, copyright requirements, cultural protocols, digital preservation, or editorial policy.

Any updates will be published on this page.

25. Contact

Authors, reviewers, readers, or other parties with questions about data availability, research materials, supplementary files, permissions, repositories, or data-related concerns may contact the Editorial Office through the journal’s official contact page.

26. Editorial Note

Journal of Dance and Embodied Structure supports responsible data availability. The journal encourages transparency and scholarly reuse where appropriate, while recognizing that dance, performance, embodied, artistic, archival, and community-based research often involves ethical, cultural, copyright, and consent-based restrictions.

Authors should make data available whenever possible, but they must not share materials in ways that compromise privacy, consent, copyright, cultural rights, community trust, performer rights, or research integrity.