Data Availability & Research Data Policy

Education, Innovation and Social Futures (EISF) supports research transparency, responsible data management, and appropriate access to research materials while recognising ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, and cultural considerations that may restrict the sharing of research data.

Data Availability

Authors should provide sufficient information about the availability of data supporting the findings of their research. Where appropriate, manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement describing whether and how the underlying data can be accessed.

Data Availability Statements

Depending on the nature of the research, a Data Availability Statement may indicate that:

• data are openly available in a recognised repository;
• data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request;
• data are available subject to ethical, legal, institutional, or confidentiality restrictions;
• data are contained within the article or its supplementary materials;
• data are owned or controlled by a third party and access is subject to permission; or
• data sharing is not applicable because no new dataset was generated or analysed.

Authors should select or formulate a statement that accurately reflects the circumstances of their study.

Research Data Repositories

Where ethically and legally appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit research data in established institutional, disciplinary, or general-purpose repositories that provide persistent access and appropriate metadata.

Where available, repository identifiers or persistent links should be included in the manuscript.

Human Participant Data

Research data involving students, teachers, children, parents, school communities, or other human participants must be handled in accordance with applicable ethics approvals, informed-consent arrangements, privacy requirements, and data-protection obligations.

Open sharing of identifiable or potentially re-identifiable participant information is not required and may be inappropriate.

Qualitative Research Data

EISF recognises that qualitative datasets, including interview transcripts, focus-group materials, field notes, observations, and audiovisual records, may contain sensitive or identifiable information.

Authors should not make such data publicly available where doing so would breach participant consent, confidentiality, ethical approval, cultural obligations, or applicable law.

Sensitive and Restricted Data

Data should not be publicly shared where access is restricted because of privacy, confidentiality, safeguarding, commercial sensitivity, intellectual property, legal requirements, institutional agreements, Indigenous or culturally sensitive information, or other legitimate considerations.

Where restrictions apply, authors should explain the general basis for the restriction in the Data Availability Statement without disclosing confidential information.

Data Integrity

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and appropriate management of research data underlying their publications.

Fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, selective alteration, or intentional misrepresentation of research data constitutes a serious breach of research integrity.

Supporting Materials

Where relevant, authors are encouraged to make appropriate supporting materials available, such as research instruments, questionnaires, coding frameworks, analytical procedures, protocols, or other materials that improve transparency and reproducibility.

Any sharing of supporting materials must comply with copyright, licensing, ethical, confidentiality, and privacy requirements.

Data Retention

Authors should retain research data and relevant documentation for an appropriate period in accordance with institutional requirements, ethics approvals, funding conditions, disciplinary standards, and applicable laws or regulations.

Editorial Requests for Data

During peer review or investigation of a research-integrity concern, editors may request access to relevant data or supporting documentation where reasonably necessary to evaluate the manuscript or investigate the concern.

Any such information will be handled with appropriate regard for confidentiality, privacy, ethical restrictions, and legitimate limitations on data access.

Responsible Data Sharing

EISF encourages data sharing where it enhances research transparency and scholarly verification, but does not require authors to compromise participant privacy, confidentiality, ethical commitments, legal obligations, or the rights and interests of research communities.