Data Availability and Research Integrity

Authors must retain the records needed to support their methods, results and conclusions and must provide a data-availability statement with the manuscript.

Availability statement

The statement should identify where supporting data, code, protocols or materials can be accessed. When data are in a repository, authors should provide the repository name and persistent link or identifier. When access is restricted, the statement must explain the ethical, legal, privacy, conservation or commercial reason and describe any controlled-access procedure.

Responsible sharing

GAR encourages sharing that allows verification and responsible reuse. Authors must not publicly release personal information, sensitive location data for protected species, confidential clinical records or material that they have no right to distribute.

Integrity and retention

Data and images must not be fabricated, selectively omitted or manipulated in a misleading way. Adjustments to images must be applied transparently and must not alter the interpretation. Editors may request underlying records during review or after publication.

Unavailable data

A legitimate restriction does not automatically prevent publication, but unexplained refusal or inability to provide evidence supporting material findings may lead to rejection, correction, expression of concern or retraction.