Research Data

1. Purpose

The Journal of Education and Development Lab (JEDL) recognizes that responsible management, transparency, and appropriate sharing of research data contribute to the reproducibility, credibility, and advancement of scholarly research.

JEDL encourages authors to make research data available whenever ethically, legally, and practically possible. Authors are expected to provide sufficient information about their data, methods, and analytical procedures to allow readers and other researchers to understand, evaluate, and, where appropriate, reproduce the reported research.

The requirements of this policy may vary according to the nature of the research, discipline, methodology, ethical considerations, and applicable laws or institutional requirements.

2. Scope

This policy applies to research articles, review articles involving datasets, systematic reviews, empirical studies, case studies, short communications, conference proceedings, and other submissions where research data are generated, collected, analyzed, or reused.

Research data may include, but are not limited to:

  • Survey responses

  • Interview or focus-group data

  • Experimental observations

  • Educational assessment data

  • Student learning data

  • Learning analytics data

  • Statistical datasets

  • Qualitative research data

  • Laboratory measurements

  • Images, audio, and video data

  • Geographic or spatial data

  • Computational datasets

  • Simulation outputs

  • Codebooks and metadata

  • Machine-learning training or evaluation datasets

  • Secondary or publicly available datasets

3. Data Availability Statement

Authors of research articles are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript.

The statement should clearly indicate whether the data supporting the findings are:

  1. Publicly available;

  2. Available from the authors upon reasonable request;

  3. Available through a recognized repository;

  4. Restricted because of ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, or institutional requirements; or

  5. Not applicable because no research data were generated or analyzed.

A suitable statement may be included under a heading such as Data Availability or Data Availability Statement.

Examples

Publicly available data

The data supporting the findings of this study are publicly available through the designated research repository.

Available upon reasonable request

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable ethical and confidentiality requirements.

Restricted data

The data supporting this study are not publicly available because they contain confidential information and are subject to ethical and privacy restrictions. Access may be considered by the authors or relevant institution upon reasonable request and subject to appropriate approval.

No applicable dataset

No new datasets were generated or analyzed during this study.

4. Data Sharing and Repositories

JEDL encourages authors to deposit research data in an appropriate, reputable repository whenever possible.

Where appropriate, authors may use:

  • Institutional repositories;

  • Disciplinary or subject-specific repositories;

  • General-purpose research data repositories;

  • Government or public data repositories; or

  • Other recognized repositories appropriate to the research field.

Authors should provide the persistent identifier or appropriate reference to the dataset in the manuscript when one is available.

Depositing data in a repository is encouraged but is not mandatory where sharing would conflict with ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property, or institutional requirements.

5. Confidentiality and Privacy

Authors must protect the privacy and confidentiality of research participants and other individuals whose information is included in research data.

Data containing personally identifiable, confidential, sensitive, or otherwise restricted information must not be publicly released unless appropriate authorization, consent, anonymization, and legal requirements have been satisfied.

Authors should, where appropriate:

  • Remove direct personal identifiers;

  • Apply suitable anonymization or de-identification procedures;

  • Remove or protect indirect identifiers where necessary;

  • Follow applicable institutional requirements;

  • Follow applicable data-protection and privacy laws;

  • Respect participant consent conditions; and

  • Use controlled-access mechanisms where open publication is inappropriate.

Authors remain responsible for ensuring that shared datasets do not inadvertently disclose confidential or personally identifiable information.

6. Research Participants and Consent

When research involves human participants, authors must ensure that data collection and sharing are consistent with:

  • Informed consent requirements;

  • Institutional or research ethics approval, where applicable;

  • Participant confidentiality;

  • Applicable laws and regulations; and

  • The conditions under which the data were originally collected.

If participants were not informed that their data could be publicly shared, authors should not make such data publicly available without appropriate authorization or ethical justification.

Where data cannot ethically be shared, authors should explain the restriction in the Data Availability Statement.

7. Sensitive and Restricted Data

Some datasets cannot reasonably be made publicly accessible. Examples may include:

  • Personally identifiable information;

  • Confidential educational records;

  • Health-related information;

  • Sensitive participant information;

  • Confidential institutional records;

  • Proprietary datasets;

  • Data subject to contractual restrictions;

  • Data protected by intellectual-property rights; or

  • Data restricted by law or ethical requirements.

In such circumstances, JEDL does not require authors to compromise participant privacy, confidentiality, legal obligations, or ethical standards in order to share data.

Authors should instead provide as much information as possible about the nature of the data and the reason for the access restriction.

8. Third-Party and Secondary Data

When authors use data obtained from third parties, public databases, institutions, organizations, or previously published studies, they must comply with the applicable terms of use and licensing conditions.

Authors should:

  • Properly cite the original data source;

  • Identify the dataset where appropriate;

  • Provide a persistent identifier when available;

  • Follow the relevant data-use conditions;

  • Obtain permission when required; and

  • Clearly distinguish original data from reused or secondary data.

Authors must not represent third-party datasets as their own original data.

9. Data Citation

JEDL encourages authors to formally cite datasets that substantially contribute to their research.

Where possible, dataset citations should include:

  • Author or responsible organization;

  • Dataset title;

  • Publication or release year;

  • Repository or publisher;

  • Version or edition, where applicable; and

  • Persistent identifier such as a DOI, when available.

Dataset citations should be included in the reference list where appropriate and should not be omitted merely because the dataset is freely available online.

10. Research Software, Code, and Computational Materials

For studies involving computational analysis, statistical programming, simulations, machine learning, or other software-based research, authors are encouraged to make relevant code and computational materials available where feasible.

Where appropriate, authors should provide:

  • Analysis code;

  • Scripts;

  • Computational workflows;

  • Configuration files;

  • Codebooks;

  • Documentation;

  • Model specifications; and

  • Information about software and relevant versions.

Any shared software or code should comply with applicable licensing and intellectual-property requirements.

11. Data Documentation

Authors are encouraged to provide sufficient documentation to make shared data understandable and usable by other researchers.

Where appropriate, documentation may include:

  • Variable descriptions;

  • Data dictionaries;

  • Coding schemes;

  • Measurement instruments;

  • Survey instruments;

  • Sampling information;

  • Data-collection procedures;

  • Data-cleaning procedures;

  • Missing-data information;

  • File descriptions;

  • Methodological notes; and

  • Information about software or analytical tools used.

Poorly documented datasets may significantly reduce their research value even when the underlying data are accessible.

12. Data Quality and Integrity

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and appropriate management of the research data underlying their submissions.

Authors must not:

  • Fabricate research data;

  • Falsify or manipulate data improperly;

  • Selectively remove data to misrepresent findings;

  • Misrepresent the origin of data;

  • Manipulate images or datasets in a misleading manner; or

  • Present another researcher's dataset as their own.

Legitimate data processing, cleaning, transformation, statistical analysis, and methodological exclusions should be appropriately documented.

Suspected data fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or other forms of research misconduct may be investigated under JEDL's Plagiarism & Research Misconduct Policy and Publication Ethics & Malpractice Policy.

13. Data Retention

Authors are encouraged to retain research data and supporting documentation for a reasonable period consistent with:

  • Institutional requirements;

  • Ethical approval conditions;

  • Applicable laws;

  • Funding requirements;

  • Disciplinary standards; and

  • The nature of the research.

Authors should maintain appropriate backups and protect research data against unauthorized access, loss, corruption, or accidental disclosure.

14. Data Availability During Peer Review

Editors and reviewers may request reasonable clarification regarding datasets, analytical procedures, instruments, or other research materials when necessary to evaluate the manuscript.

Where appropriate and ethically permissible, authors may be asked to provide supporting data or documentation for confidential editorial or peer-review assessment.

Such requests do not require authors to disclose information that cannot legally or ethically be shared.

15. Data Underlying Published Articles

Authors are encouraged to ensure that data supporting the principal findings of a published article remain accessible for an appropriate period, subject to applicable restrictions.

If a dataset or supporting material becomes unavailable after publication, authors should notify JEDL when the change materially affects the transparency or verification of the published research.

Where appropriate, JEDL may publish a correction, editorial notice, or other update concerning data availability.

16. Exceptions to Data Sharing

JEDL recognizes that open data sharing is not appropriate in every research context.

Data-sharing exceptions may be justified where disclosure would:

  • Violate participant privacy;

  • Breach confidentiality;

  • Contravene informed-consent conditions;

  • Violate applicable law;

  • Breach contractual restrictions;

  • Disclose protected intellectual property;

  • Create a significant risk of harm;

  • Compromise institutional security; or

  • Conflict with legitimate ethical requirements.

Authors should clearly explain the reason for any significant restriction on data access.

17. Open Data Does Not Mean Unrestricted Data

JEDL supports responsible data sharing rather than unrestricted disclosure of all research materials.

Where open publication is not appropriate, authors should consider alternatives such as:

  • Anonymized datasets;

  • Aggregated data;

  • Metadata-only records;

  • Controlled-access repositories;

  • Data-access committees;

  • Secure institutional access; or

  • Reasonable request-based access.

The protection of research participants and responsible research practices take priority over unrestricted data availability.

18. Data and Generative AI

Authors using generative AI or other AI-based systems in data processing, analysis, coding, classification, transcription, or interpretation should ensure that such use does not compromise:

  • Participant confidentiality;

  • Data privacy;

  • Intellectual-property rights;

  • Research integrity;

  • Data security; or

  • The accuracy and reproducibility of the research.

Authors should disclose material use of AI tools in accordance with JEDL's AI & Generative AI Policy.

Confidential or sensitive research data should not be entered into external AI systems where doing so would violate ethical, legal, institutional, contractual, or confidentiality requirements.

19. Data Availability and Publication Decisions

The absence of publicly available data does not automatically prevent publication.

JEDL recognizes that many legitimate research projects involve confidential, restricted, proprietary, qualitative, or otherwise non-shareable data.

Editorial decisions will consider the nature of the research and whether the authors have provided an appropriate and transparent explanation of data availability.

However, unexplained claims regarding data, inability to provide reasonable methodological information, or evidence of data fabrication or manipulation may raise research-integrity concerns.

20. Authors' Responsibility

Authors are ultimately responsible for ensuring that:

  • Research data are collected and managed responsibly;

  • Data are accurately represented in the manuscript;

  • Appropriate ethical approvals and participant protections are followed;

  • Data-sharing decisions comply with applicable requirements;

  • Third-party data are properly acknowledged and cited;

  • Shared datasets are appropriately documented;

  • Confidential information is protected; and

  • The Data Availability Statement accurately reflects the actual accessibility of the research data.

21. Recommended Data Availability Statement

For empirical research, JEDL recommends that authors include a concise statement such as:

Data Availability: The data generated and/or analyzed during this study are available [through the stated repository / from the corresponding author upon reasonable request / subject to applicable ethical, privacy, confidentiality, or institutional restrictions]. Where applicable, the dataset is identified by a persistent identifier in the manuscript.

Authors should modify the statement so that it accurately reflects the circumstances of their research.

22. Related JEDL Policies

Authors should also consult the following JEDL policies where applicable:

  • Author Guidelines

  • Submission Guidelines

  • Submission Checklist

  • Publication Ethics & Malpractice Policy

  • Plagiarism & Research Misconduct Policy

  • Authorship & Contributorship Policy

  • Conflict of Interest Policy

  • AI & Generative AI Policy

  • Copyright & Licensing Policy

  • Open Access Policy

  • Retraction & Correction Policy

  • Peer Review Policy

23. Final Statement

JEDL supports responsible and transparent research-data practices while recognizing legitimate ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, and disciplinary limitations.

The journal encourages authors to share research data whenever it is ethically, legally, and practically possible, and to provide a clear Data Availability Statement so that readers can understand how the evidence underlying published research may be accessed.

Journal of Education and Development Lab (JEDL)
Publisher: Education and Development Lab
Editorial Office: editor@jedl.us