Believers Journal of Health Sciences (BJHS) supports transparency, reproducibility, and the responsible management and sharing of research data. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in submitted manuscripts, normally before the References section. The statement should clearly indicate whether data supporting the study are available, where and how they may be accessed, and whether any ethical, legal, privacy, institutional, contractual, or other legitimate restrictions apply.
Where ethically and legally appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit research data in a recognized repository that supports appropriate access and long-term availability. Data shared for verification or reuse should be accompanied by sufficient documentation to allow readers and researchers to understand the dataset and its relationship to the published study. Depending on the nature of the research, relevant materials may include:
Important: Personally identifiable or sensitive participant data should not be made publicly available when doing so would breach informed consent, confidentiality obligations, ethical approval conditions, applicable privacy requirements, or other legal restrictions.
Clinical, genetic, genomic, and other sensitive health-related data require particular care. Authors are responsible for ensuring that data sharing is consistent with participant consent, applicable ethics approval, institutional requirements, data-protection obligations, and any other relevant restrictions. De-identification or anonymization should be used where appropriate, but authors should also consider whether the remaining information could reasonably permit re-identification.
Legitimate restrictions on public data availability may include participant confidentiality, absence of consent for public sharing, conditions imposed through research-ethics approval, contractual restrictions, intellectual-property considerations, or applicable legal requirements. Where unrestricted public sharing is not appropriate, authors should consider controlled-access repositories or other suitable access arrangements where feasible.
Authors may adapt the following examples to accurately describe the availability of data supporting their manuscript:
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, lawful handling, and appropriate description of research data associated with their manuscript. Where data are shared, the deposited material should be consistent with the study as reported and should not contain fabricated, falsified, deceptively manipulated, or inappropriately altered information. Any restrictions on access should be stated accurately in the Data Availability Statement.
Editors or reviewers may request clarification regarding a Data Availability Statement or, where appropriate and consistent with ethical and legal requirements, may request access to supporting information needed to assess the manuscript. A request for data does not override participant confidentiality, informed-consent limitations, legal restrictions, or legitimate institutional controls.
Providing materially false or misleading information about data availability may result in requests for clarification or correction and may be considered under the journal's applicable publication-ethics and post-publication procedures.
Authors should notify the BJHS Editorial Office if a repository link associated with a published article becomes unavailable or if a material discrepancy is identified in the published Data Availability Statement. The journal will assess the issue and, where necessary, may update the relevant publication information or issue an appropriate post-publication notice in accordance with its applicable policies.
This Data Availability Policy may be reviewed periodically to reflect changes in journal procedures, research-data practices, ethical requirements, privacy considerations, and relevant scholarly publishing standards. Material changes will be reflected in the current version published on the official BJHS website.