DATA SHARING POLICY

This policy explains how authors of Jurnal Ilmiah Kesehatan Masyarakat, abbreviated as SEHATMAS, make the data and materials behind their research available to other researchers, and how the privacy of research participants is protected. Sharing data helps others to check, understand, and build on published findings. In public health, however, data often come from patients, respondents, and communities, so sharing must always be ethical and lawful.

In short. Data are shared upon reasonable request. Every research article must include a Data Availability Statement. Data are shared only when it is ethically appropriate, when participants cannot be identified, and when consent allows it.

Quick Reference

Question	Answer
What is the basis of the policy?	Sharing upon reasonable request.
Is a Data Availability Statement required?	Yes, for every research article.
Where does the statement go?	At the end of the Acknowledgements section.
Must data be deposited in a repository?	No, but deposit is encouraged when it is ethically appropriate.
Can participant data be shared?	Only when it is ethically appropriate, participants cannot be identified, and consent allows it.
Are the data peer reviewed?	No. Authors are responsible for the soundness of their data.

1. Policy Basis

Topic	Policy
Sharing upon reasonable request	Authors agree to make the supporting data and materials available to other researchers when a reasonable request is made.
Decision of the authors	The authors decide whether a request is reasonable, considering its purpose and the protection of participants.
Access for editors	Authors must give data and materials to the editors when they are asked for them during the review, or after publication when a concern about integrity is examined (see Allegations of Misconduct). The right of authors to decide on outside requests does not limit this duty.
Retention	Authors should keep their data for a reasonable period after the article is published.

2. Data Availability Statement

Topic	Requirement
Requirement	Every research article must include a Data Availability Statement.
Where to place it	The SEHATMAS template has no separate section for the statement. Place it at the end of the Acknowledgements section, together with the funding statement and the competing interests statement. See Manuscript Preparation.

2.1 What the Statement Must Say

No.	Content
1	Whether the supporting data and materials are available.
2	Where and how they can be obtained, for example in a repository with a persistent identifier, in supplementary files, or from the corresponding author.
3	If the data cannot be shared, the reason, for example the protection of participants, the conditions of consent, or the restrictions of a health facility or an institution.

2.2 Examples of Statements

Situation	Example statement
Available on request	The anonymized dataset is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Deposited in a repository	The dataset and the research instruments are available in [name of the repository] at [DOI or persistent link].
Not available	The interview recordings and transcripts cannot be shared, because the participants did not consent to their release and could be identified. The interview guide is provided as supplementary material.
Included in the article	All data that support the findings are presented in the article.

3. Citing Data

Topic	Requirement
What to cite	Cite all datasets that you use or refer to, including datasets that you created and deposited, and data from other sources.
Where to cite	Put the citation of a dataset in the reference list, in the format of the journal. Include a DOI or another persistent link when one exists. See Manuscript Preparation.
External data	For data from other sources, for example national or regional health statistics, records of health facilities, or existing databases, name the source and describe the conditions of access.

4. Ethical Limits and Protection of Participants

Topic	Policy
When to share	Share data only when it is ethically appropriate. Authors are not required to share data when sharing would breach the protection of human participants or would raise ethical, privacy, or security concerns.
Consent	Respect the consent that participants gave.
Minors	Take extra care. The permission of a parent or a guardian, and the permission of the institution, must cover how the data are used and shared.
Confidentiality	Always handle the data of participants confidentially. See Publication Ethics.
Generative AI	Do not upload personal data of participants to generative AI tools. See the Generative AI Policies.

4.1 How to Handle Different Types of Data

Type of data	How to handle it
Questionnaire responses, test scores, and measurements	Share them in anonymized form. Remove names, national identity numbers, medical record numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, and other direct identifiers. Check whether small groups, rare conditions, or a combination of age, sex, village, and health facility could identify a person.
Health and clinical records	Share only when participants consented and the health facility allows it, and only in anonymized form. In most cases, share summary data or a description of how the records can be requested.
Interviews, focus groups, and recordings	These are usually not shared in full. Share anonymized excerpts, the coding scheme, or the interview guide instead. Share recordings only when participants clearly consented.
Research instruments	Questionnaires, scales, observation sheets, interview guides, and educational materials are encouraged as supplementary material, as long as the authors hold the right to publish them. See the Licensing page for third party material.
Analysis scripts and software	Sharing is encouraged, so that others can check and repeat the analysis.
Data about communities, health facilities, and health workers	Share only if the communities, facilities, and people cannot be identified, or if they agreed to be named.

5. Repositories and Licenses

Topic	Policy
Repositories	Authors are encouraged to deposit data that can be shared in a trusted repository with a persistent identifier such as a DOI. Examples are Zenodo, the Open Science Framework, Figshare, Mendeley Data, and the repository of the institution of the author. Deposit is not required.
License for data	Authors should attach a clear license to deposited data, so that the terms of reuse are known.
License of the journal	The CC BY 4.0 license applies to the published article. It does not automatically cover datasets that are held elsewhere. See the Licensing page.

6. Information at Submission

No.	What to do
1	State whether a dataset is associated with the manuscript.
2	If it is, give a DOI, a link, or another persistent identifier.
3	Enter this information in the field for comments to the editor, and in the Data Availability Statement of the manuscript.
4	Be ready to give the reviewers access to the data deposit when they ask for it.
5	Upload supplementary files together with the manuscript.

7. Review and Responsibility

Topic	Policy
Peer review	Datasets are not formally peer reviewed. Authors are responsible for the soundness of their data, and errors in data are the responsibility of those who produced them.
Access for reviewers	Reviewers may ask for the data or materials that they need to evaluate the manuscript.
Errors after publication	Significant errors in data are handled under the Correction and Retraction policy.
Consequences	A Data Availability Statement that is false, or data that are withheld without a legitimate reason when the editors ask for them, can be handled under the Allegations of Misconduct policy.

Related Pages and Enquiries

Topic	Page
Preparing the manuscript and placing the statement	Manuscript Preparation
Ethical principles and research with participants	Publication Ethics
Originality and research integrity	Plagiarism and Research Integrity Policy
License of articles	Licensing