Data Sharing, Data Availability and Reproducibility Policy

AL-ĪMĀN Research Journal (IRJ) recognizes the importance of transparency, responsible data management, and reproducibility in scholarly research.

The journal encourages authors to make research data and supporting materials available where appropriate, ethically permissible, and relevant to the research methodology.

The requirements of this policy depend on the nature and methodology of the research.

1. General Principle

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the research reported in their manuscripts is sufficiently transparent to allow readers to understand, evaluate, and, where reasonably possible, reproduce or verify the research process and findings.

Authors should provide appropriate information about:

  • Research methods;

  • Sources of evidence;

  • Data collection procedures;

  • Analytical procedures;

  • Materials or instruments used; and

  • Other relevant information necessary to understand the research.

2. Data Availability

Where a research article is based on original data, authors are encouraged to make the underlying data or relevant supporting materials available to readers through an appropriate repository, where ethically and legally permissible.

Where data are publicly available, authors should identify the source and provide an appropriate citation or persistent link where available.

Where data cannot be made publicly available, authors should provide a statement explaining the reason where appropriate.

3. Data Availability Statement

Where applicable, authors should include a data availability statement in their manuscript.

Examples include:

Data available:
“The data supporting the findings of this study are available from [repository/source] at [link or DOI].”

Data available on reasonable request:
“The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable ethical, legal, and confidentiality restrictions.”

Data not applicable:
“This article is based on textual, documentary, or publicly available sources and does not involve the generation or analysis of a separate research dataset.”

Data restricted:
“The data are not publicly available because of privacy, confidentiality, ethical, legal, or other applicable restrictions.”

Authors should select a statement that accurately reflects the circumstances of their research.

4. Research Based on Textual and Documentary Sources

For research based primarily on books, articles, manuscripts, archival documents, Qur'anic texts, Hadith collections, historical sources, legal texts, or other published or publicly accessible materials, a separate research dataset may not be applicable.

In such cases, authors should provide accurate and sufficient citations and identify the primary and secondary sources used in the research.

Where digital or archival sources are used, authors should provide stable links, identifiers, archival references, or other information that enables readers to locate the sources where reasonably possible.

5. Qualitative Research

For qualitative research involving interviews, focus groups, observations, or similar methods, authors should provide sufficient methodological information to allow readers to understand how the research was conducted.

Raw qualitative data should not be made publicly available where doing so could compromise participant privacy, confidentiality, safety, or informed consent.

Where appropriate, authors may provide anonymized or aggregated data while maintaining appropriate ethical safeguards.

6. Quantitative and Computational Research

Where research involves quantitative datasets, statistical analysis, computational methods, or other data-dependent procedures, authors are encouraged to provide sufficient methodological and analytical information to enable appropriate verification or reproduction of the reported findings.

Where feasible and ethically permissible, authors should make relevant datasets, analytical materials, code, or other supporting materials available through an appropriate repository.

7. Confidential and Sensitive Data

Authors must not publicly share data that could reveal confidential, private, personally identifiable, or otherwise sensitive information without an appropriate ethical and legal basis.

Where data sharing is restricted, authors should explain the relevant limitations where appropriate.

Possible reasons for restricting access may include:

  • Protection of participant privacy;

  • Confidentiality agreements;

  • Ethical restrictions;

  • Legal requirements;

  • Intellectual property restrictions;

  • Third-party ownership of data; or

  • Security concerns.

8. Anonymization

Where research data contain personal or identifiable information, authors should take appropriate measures to anonymize or de-identify the data before sharing them.

Anonymization should be consistent with the ethical approval, consent arrangements, applicable laws, and the nature of the research.

9. Third-Party Data

Where authors use data obtained from another organization, repository, institution, researcher, or third-party source, they must comply with the relevant terms of use, copyright conditions, licences, and access restrictions.

Authors should properly acknowledge and cite the original data source.

The journal does not require authors to publicly redistribute third-party data where they do not have the legal or ethical right to do so.

10. Reproducibility

Authors should provide sufficient methodological detail, source information, analytical explanation, and supporting information to enable readers to understand and, where reasonably possible, verify the reported findings.

The degree of reproducibility expected may vary according to the discipline and research methodology.

For interpretive, textual, historical, philosophical, or theoretical research, reproducibility may primarily involve transparent presentation of sources, analytical reasoning, and scholarly methodology rather than replication using a numerical dataset.

11. Data Retention

Authors are encouraged to retain relevant research data and supporting materials for a reasonable period consistent with their institutional requirements, ethical obligations, applicable law, and the nature of the research.

Authors remain responsible for maintaining appropriate records supporting the integrity of their published research.

12. Editors' and Reviewers' Access to Data

Where necessary to evaluate a manuscript, editors or reviewers may request reasonable clarification or supporting information concerning the research data, methodology, analysis, or sources.

Authors should cooperate with reasonable requests intended to verify the integrity or reliability of the reported research.

Any information provided during peer review will be handled confidentially.

13. Data Integrity and Research Misconduct

Fabrication, falsification, deliberate manipulation, or deceptive presentation of research data constitutes a serious research-integrity concern.

Where concerns regarding data integrity arise, AL-ĪMĀN Research Journal (IRJ) may request clarification or supporting documentation and may investigate the matter in accordance with its Publication Ethics and Research Integrity Policy.

Where appropriate, the journal may contact the relevant institution or authority.

14. Post-Publication Data Concerns

If significant concerns regarding the data or supporting evidence of a published article are identified after publication, the journal may investigate the matter.

Depending on the circumstances, the journal may:

  • Request clarification from the authors;

  • Publish a correction;

  • Publish an expression of concern;

  • Request additional supporting information;

  • Contact the relevant institution or authority; or

  • Retract the article where appropriate.

15. Data Sharing and Intellectual Property

Data sharing must respect copyright, intellectual property rights, confidentiality, privacy, contractual obligations, and applicable laws.

Authors should not share material that they do not have the legal or ethical right to distribute.

Where data or supporting materials are shared under a specific licence, the applicable licence or usage conditions should be clearly identified.

16. No Mandatory Repository Requirement

AL-ĪMĀN Research Journal (IRJ) does not currently require authors to deposit research data in a specific data repository as a condition of submission or publication.

Where appropriate, authors may use a suitable institutional, subject-specific, general-purpose, or other recognized scholarly repository.

The journal may recommend repository deposit where it would improve transparency, accessibility, or reproducibility.

17. Applicability to Different Research Methods

This policy is applied proportionately according to the research methodology.

A separate data availability statement or research dataset may not be applicable to articles that are exclusively:

  • Conceptual;

  • Theoretical;

  • Textual;

  • Historical;

  • Philosophical;

  • Doctrinal;

  • Bibliographical; or

  • Based entirely on publicly available published sources.

Authors should nevertheless provide sufficient source information and methodological transparency appropriate to the research.

18. Policy Updates

This policy may be reviewed and updated to reflect developments in research-data practices, scholarly publishing standards, research ethics, and applicable legal or institutional requirements.

Any significant changes will be clearly stated on the journal's website.

Journal:
AL-ĪMĀN Research Journal (IRJ)

Publisher:
Hira Institute of Social Sciences Research & Development