Research data

Research data policy

Data availability statements

Guidance for authors and editors

An article’s data availability statement lets a reader know where and how to access data that support the results and analysis. It may include links to publicly accessible datasets that were analysed or generated during the study, descriptions of what data are available and/or information on how to access data that is not publicly available.

The data availability statement is a valuable link between a paper’s results and the supporting evidence. Springer Nature’s data policy is based on transparency, requiring these statements in original research articles across our journals.

The guidance below offers advice on how to create a data availability statement, along with examples from different research areas.

Data availability statements support research data

What should a data availability statement include?

Your data availability statement should describe how the data supporting the results reported in your paper can be accessed. 

  • If your data are in a repository, include hyperlinks and persistent identifiers (e.g. DOI or accession number) for the data where available.  
  • If your data cannot be shared openly, for example to protect study participant privacy, then this should be explained. 
  • Include both original data generated in your research and any secondary data reuse that supports your results and analyses.

Read our detailed guidance on how to write an excellent data availability statement.

Citing data sources

You should cite any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely. This includes novel data shared alongside the publication and any secondary data sources. 

Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI), should be included in the reference list using the minimum information recommended by DataCite (Dataset Creator, Dataset Title, Publisher [repository], Publication Year, Identifier [e.g. DOI, Handle or ARK]) and follow journal style.

See our further guidance on citing datasets.

Statement examples by research area 

Life sciences and clinical medicine

Data publicly available in a repository:

Data available with the paper or supplementary information:

  • All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. Microsatellite primer sequences are provided in Supplementary Table 2, along with original reference describing the microsatellites used in this study. Example from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0148
  • All data on the measured ecosystem variables indicating ecosystem functions that support the findings of this study are included within this paper and its Supplementary Information files. Example from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0391-4

Data cannot be shared openly but are available on request from authors:

  • The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to reasons of sensitivity and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Data are located in controlled access data storage at Karolinska Institutet. Example from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-022-00758-z
  • The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license from the Natural History Museum (London) for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission from the Centre for Human Evolution Studies at the Natural History Museum. Example from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0528-0

Chemistry and chemical biology

Data publicly available in a repository:

Data available with the paper or supplementary information:

Physical sciences

Data publicly available in a repository:

Data available with the paper or supplementary information:

  • The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper, its supplementary information files, and the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center (https://doi.org/10.11888/Cryos.tpdc.272747).

Data cannot be shared openly but are available on request from authors:

  • Data sets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The natural gas production data are available from Drilling Info but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Example from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0329-x

Humanities and social science

Data publicly available in a repository:

Data available in a repository with restricted access:

Data cannot be shared openly but are available on request from authors:

  • The data that support the findings of this study are available from Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for the current study and so are not publicly available. The data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request and with the permission of Norwegian Social Research (NOVA). Example from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01255-w

Data shared with manuscript or Supplementary Information:

Data sharing is not applicable: