Data Sharing, Availability and Reproducibility Policy

Purpose

The Dyal Singh Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (DSJHSS) supports transparency in the evidence underlying published research while recognising that humanities and social-science data can include confidential interviews, sensitive personal information, copyrighted material, restricted archives and culturally sensitive sources.

The journal therefore applies a proportionate approach rather than requiring unrestricted public release of every dataset.

Data Availability Statements

For empirical research, authors should include a Data Availability Statement explaining where the data, materials or evidence supporting the findings can be accessed, or why access is restricted.

A statement may indicate that:

·        data are openly available in a named repository;

·        data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request;

·        access is restricted because of participant consent, privacy, confidentiality, legal, ethical, archival or contractual conditions;

·        the study uses publicly available data or documents and provides the relevant source information; or

·        no separate dataset was generated or analysed.

Responsible Sharing

Where ethical and legal conditions permit, authors are encouraged to deposit reusable datasets, code, instruments, questionnaires or other research materials in a stable institutional, disciplinary or general-purpose repository.

Deposited material should include enough description to allow appropriate scholarly interpretation and reuse.

Restrictions

Authors should not publicly share information where doing so would violate:

·        participant consent;

·        confidentiality commitments;

·        privacy protections;

·        copyright or database rights;

·        archival or indigenous/community restrictions;

·        legal obligations; or

·        legitimate security considerations.

Where full sharing is not possible, authors should explain the restriction as transparently as the circumstances permit.

Verification

During editorial review, the journal may request access to underlying data, coding, instruments or other documentation where reasonably necessary to assess integrity or clarify a concern. Such requests do not automatically require public release.

Failure to provide material that the authors claim exists, without a legitimate explanation, may affect editorial decisions or trigger an integrity inquiry.

Reproducibility and Transparency

Authors should describe methods, analytical decisions and sources with sufficient clarity for qualified readers to understand how conclusions were reached. In qualitative, interpretive and humanities research, transparency may concern source selection, interpretive procedure, coding or analytical rationale rather than exact numerical replication.

Citation of Data and Materials

Where external datasets, archives, corpora, software or other research resources are used, authors should cite or acknowledge them appropriately.