Data and Reproducibility

1. Introduction

The International Journal of Advanced Science Computing and Engineering (IJASCE) supports transparent, verifiable, and reproducible research. Authors should report data, methods, computational procedures, software, code, models, parameters, and other research materials with sufficient clarity to allow readers to understand how the reported findings were obtained and, where reasonably possible, to verify or reproduce the analyses.

This policy implements the COPE Core Practice on Data and Reproducibility and is informed by relevant COPE guidance on data availability, reporting standards, research integrity, and the correction of the scholarly record. IJASCE also supports established principles of responsible research data management and appropriate disciplinary standards for computational and engineering research.

IJASCE recognizes that complete public release of research data or code is not possible in every study. Ethical obligations, participant confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, security, contractual restrictions, third-party licenses, commercial sensitivity, and other legitimate constraints may restrict access. Such restrictions must be explained transparently rather than concealed.

2. Scope

This policy applies to manuscripts submitted to IJASCE where research findings depend on data, software, source code, algorithms, computational models, simulations, experimental procedures, statistical analyses, digital artifacts, or other research materials.

Depending on the study, relevant research materials may include:

• originally collected datasets;

• public or third-party datasets;

• processed or derived data;

• synthetic data;

• source code, scripts, notebooks, or software;

• algorithms and pseudocode;

• trained models, model configurations, or model parameters;

• simulation models and configuration files;

• experimental protocols and measurement procedures;

• statistical analysis procedures;

• benchmark configurations and evaluation scripts;

• hardware and software environment information;

• supplementary research materials; and

• other materials necessary to understand or evaluate the reported findings.

3. General Policy

Authors are responsible for reporting their research accurately and providing sufficient information to enable appropriate scholarly scrutiny.

IJASCE requires a Data Availability Statement for research articles. Authors are expected to make supporting research data and materials available to the extent reasonably possible and consistent with ethical, legal, contractual, intellectual property, confidentiality, security, and licensing requirements.

Where public sharing is possible, IJASCE encourages authors to deposit relevant data, code, and supporting materials in appropriate repositories that provide persistent access, clear versioning, and stable identifiers.

Where public sharing is not possible, authors must state the restriction clearly and explain how qualified researchers may request access when controlled access is legally and ethically permissible.

4. Data Availability Statement

Every research article must include a Data Availability Statement that accurately describes the availability of the data and, where relevant, other materials supporting the reported findings.

The statement should identify the situation that applies to the study, including one or more of the following:

• Publicly available data. The statement should identify the repository, dataset, persistent identifier or DOI, and access information.

• Data included within the article or supplementary materials. The statement should identify where the supporting information is located.

• Controlled-access data. The statement should explain the applicable restrictions, identify the responsible data custodian where appropriate, and explain the procedure and conditions for requesting access.

• Third-party data. The statement should identify the source and explain any restrictions imposed by the data owner or license.

• Data available on reasonable request. This formulation should be used only when repository deposit is not reasonably possible and a legitimate mechanism for providing the data exists. Authors should identify from whom the data may be requested and any applicable access conditions.

• Data cannot be shared. The statement must explain the ethical, legal, privacy, security, contractual, commercial, intellectual property, or other legitimate reason preventing access.

• No new data were generated or analyzed. This may be stated when applicable to the research design.

A Data Availability Statement must accurately reflect actual access conditions. Authors must not state that data are publicly available or available on request when they cannot, or do not have authority to, provide such access.

5. Data Repositories and Persistent Access

Where data can be shared publicly, authors should preferentially use an established disciplinary, institutional, or general-purpose research repository that supports persistent access and appropriate metadata.

Examples of suitable general-purpose repositories may include Zenodo, Figshare, or an institutional research data repository. Discipline-specific repositories should be used where they are established and appropriate for the type of data concerned.

Datasets should, where possible, receive a persistent identifier such as a DOI and should be cited in the manuscript or reference list in a manner that enables readers to identify and retrieve the specific dataset used in the study.

A conventional source-code hosting platform may be useful for collaborative software development but does not necessarily provide durable scholarly preservation. Where GitHub or a similar platform is used for research code, authors are encouraged to archive the relevant release in a preservation repository that provides a persistent identifier and to identify the exact version or release associated with the article.

6. Data Citation

Research data obtained from external sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited where citation information is available.

A data citation should identify, as applicable:

• the creator or responsible organization;

• dataset title;

• repository or publisher;

• version or release;

• year;

• persistent identifier or DOI; and

• other information necessary to identify the exact data used.

Citing a publication that describes a dataset does not necessarily replace citation of the dataset itself when a distinct dataset citation is available.

7. Methods and Research Documentation

Authors must describe their methods with sufficient detail for readers to understand how the research was conducted and how the reported results were produced.

Depending on the study design, documentation should include relevant information concerning:

• research design;

• data sources and data acquisition;

• sampling or case-selection procedures;

• data inclusion and exclusion criteria;

• data cleaning, preprocessing, transformation, or feature engineering;

• experimental procedures;

• algorithm design or implementation;

• software and library versions;

• hardware configuration when materially relevant to results;

• parameter and hyperparameter settings;

• statistical methods;

• evaluation criteria and performance metrics;

• benchmarking procedures;

• validation procedures;

• randomization procedures or random seeds where materially relevant;

• uncertainty, sensitivity, or robustness analyses where appropriate; and

• other methodological information necessary to evaluate the findings.

Descriptions should be sufficiently specific to the reported study rather than relying solely on statements that a standard or previously published method was followed. Where an established method has been described elsewhere, authors may cite the original source while clearly identifying modifications made in the present study.

8. Computational and Simulation Studies

For computational, artificial intelligence, machine learning, software engineering, numerical, or simulation-based studies, authors should report sufficient information to permit meaningful evaluation and, where feasible, computational reproduction.

Relevant information may include:

• source code or executable procedures;

• software and dependency versions;

• operating system or computational environment;

• hardware characteristics where performance results depend materially on hardware;

• model architecture and configuration;

• initialization procedures and random seeds where applicable;

• training, validation, and test data partitions;

• data preprocessing procedures;

• model parameters and hyperparameters;

• stopping criteria;

• simulation assumptions and boundary conditions;

• evaluation metrics;

• baseline or comparator implementations;

• number of runs or repetitions where stochastic variability is relevant; and

• procedures used to calculate reported summary results.

Authors are encouraged to provide scripts, notebooks, environment files, containers, virtual environments, or equivalent computational documentation when these materially improve reproducibility.

Use of Docker, other containerization systems, or a particular software platform is not mandatory. The relevant requirement is sufficient technical documentation for the study to be understood and appropriately evaluated.

9. Source Code and Software

IJASCE encourages authors to make research code available when the code is necessary to reproduce or verify the reported analysis and when sharing is legally, ethically, and contractually permitted.

When code is shared, authors should identify:

• the repository or archive;

• the version, release, or commit corresponding to the published study;

• dependencies and installation requirements;

• instructions necessary to execute the relevant analysis; and

• the applicable software license where appropriate.

Authors are encouraged to use an appropriate recognized software license when releasing source code. IJASCE does not require authors to release proprietary, confidential, security-sensitive, or third-party code when they do not possess the legal authority to do so. Any such limitation must be disclosed.

10. Proprietary, Restricted, and Sensitive Data

Open data requirements must not override legitimate ethical, legal, confidentiality, privacy, security, intellectual property, contractual, or participant-protection obligations.

Authors must not publicly release identifiable personal information, confidential participant data, protected institutional data, security-sensitive information, or restricted third-party data merely to satisfy a data-sharing expectation.

Where data cannot be made openly available, authors should provide as much transparency as possible concerning:

• why access is restricted;

• whether de-identified, aggregated, synthetic, or limited data can be shared;

• whether controlled access is possible;

• who controls access;

• the conditions under which access may be granted; and

• any ethical, legal, or contractual requirements governing reuse.

Data protection, informed consent, and confidentiality requirements are also governed by the IJASCE Ethical Oversight Policy.

11. Reporting Guidelines and Study Registration

Authors should follow recognized reporting guidelines when an appropriate guideline exists for the study design. The choice of reporting guideline should reflect the actual research design and disciplinary practice.

Where preregistration, protocol registration, or registration of a particular study design is established practice in the relevant field, authors should provide applicable registration information and should disclose material deviations from a registered protocol when relevant.

IJASCE does not impose reporting guidelines that are unrelated to the types of research it publishes. For example, reporting standards specific to systematic reviews are not required for manuscripts when that article type falls outside the journal's current publication scope.

Research involving human participants, animals, or other activities requiring ethical oversight must additionally comply with the journal's Ethical Oversight Policy.

12. Editorial Access to Supporting Materials

During editorial assessment or peer review, IJASCE may request access to data, code, images, analysis files, documentation, or other materials reasonably necessary to clarify methodological or research integrity concerns.

Where underlying material contains confidential or sensitive information, authors should provide an appropriately de-identified or otherwise legally and ethically permissible version where possible.

Inability to provide requested material will be considered in context. The journal will distinguish legitimate restrictions from situations in which the absence of supporting material raises significant questions about the reliability or verifiability of the reported findings.

13. Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their data, analyses, methods, code, and research documentation; for providing an accurate Data Availability Statement; for complying with applicable data-use rights and ethical obligations; and for preserving supporting research records in accordance with applicable institutional, disciplinary, legal, and funder requirements.

Editors are responsible for assessing whether manuscripts provide sufficient transparency for scholarly evaluation and for addressing credible concerns regarding data availability, fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or methodological reporting in accordance with relevant IJASCE policies and COPE guidance.

Reviewers should assess whether the methods, data descriptions, computational procedures, and supporting information are sufficient to evaluate the claims of the manuscript. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of non-public data and materials made available during peer review.

Readers may raise reasonable questions about the availability or reliability of supporting data or materials through the journal's established post-publication or publication ethics procedures.

14. Concerns Identified Before Publication

If information concerning data, methods, code, or supporting materials is incomplete or inconsistent before publication, IJASCE may request clarification or revision.

Depending on the circumstances, the journal may:

• request a corrected or more specific Data Availability Statement;

• request additional methodological documentation;

• request access to relevant underlying data or analysis materials;

• request clarification of data provenance or third-party access rights;

• request additional statistical, computational, or methodological assessment;

• require correction of unsupported or inadequately documented claims;

• suspend editorial consideration while a serious concern is assessed; or

• reject a manuscript when unresolved problems prevent the journal from establishing sufficient confidence in the reliability, ethics, or integrity of the work.

Suspected fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or other serious research integrity concerns will be handled under the IJASCE Allegations of Misconduct Policy and relevant COPE guidance.

15. Concerns Identified After Publication

Failure to provide data after publication does not, by itself, automatically establish misconduct or require retraction. IJASCE will consider what the published Data Availability Statement promised, why access cannot be provided, whether the restriction is legitimate, and whether the problem affects confidence in the published findings.

When an inaccurate or incomplete Data Availability Statement is identified but the article remains reliable, an appropriate correction may be sufficient.

An expression of concern may be considered when substantial unresolved questions about data integrity or reliability remain and additional evidence or an institutional assessment is required.

Retraction may be considered when reliable evidence demonstrates that the data, analyses, or other essential components of the article are seriously unreliable, fabricated, falsified, materially manipulated, or otherwise compromised to the extent that the principal findings or conclusions cannot be relied upon.

Post-publication action is intended to maintain an accurate and reliable scholarly record rather than to punish authors.

16. Relationship Between Data Availability and Research Misconduct

A limitation on data sharing is not equivalent to research misconduct. Legitimate restrictions may prevent public access even when the research itself is valid.

Conversely, a publicly available dataset does not by itself establish that the research is reproducible or reliable. Editorial assessment considers the relationship among data provenance, methods, analysis, documentation, reported results, and the claims made in the article.

Where concerns indicate possible fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or another serious integrity problem, IJASCE may seek clarification and, where formal investigation is necessary, may refer the matter to the relevant institution or other competent authority in accordance with COPE guidance.

17. Related Policies and References

• COPE Core Practice — Data and Reproducibility

• COPE Ethics Toolkit for a Successful Editorial Office

• COPE guidance, flowcharts, cases, and resources concerning data and reproducibility

• Joint FORCE11 and COPE Research Data Publishing Ethics Working Group Recommendations

• Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, where relevant to the research design

• FAIR Data Principles — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable

• relevant disciplinary reporting guidelines, where applicable to the study design

• IJASCE Ethical Oversight Policy

• IJASCE Allegations of Misconduct Policy

• IJASCE Post-Publication Discussion and Corrections Policy

• IJASCE AI Tools Usage Policy

18. Review and Updates

This policy was reviewed in September 2026. IJASCE will review and update the policy periodically in response to developments in COPE guidance, research data standards, computational research practices, repository infrastructure, reporting standards, and recognized approaches to reproducible research.