This journal supports best practices in research openness and transparency. The policies below outline our expectations for authors to help ensure that the research results we publish are as transparent as possible.

Methodology

We encourage authors to follow best practices in reporting their methodology, for example describing details of study design, sources used and their provenance, and selection procedures used.

Data availability

All manuscripts submitted to this journal must contain a Data Availability Statement, explaining where and how readers can access the data underpinning the research published in the manuscript.

We require all data underpinning your research to be made available to readers through an appropriate repository. In particular, repositories that provide persistent identifiers and have robust preservation policies will help to ensure the long-term integrity of published research. This policy applies to both quantitative data and qualitative materials. 

It is not acceptable for your Data Availability Statement to say that data are “available on request” from the authors. If you cannot make your data publicly available due to ethical or legal concerns, please contact the editorial office to discuss an exemption to this policy.

Code and model availability

We strongly encourage authors to share any analytical code or models used for the research reported in their manuscript. We recommend using an appropriate repository to make code and models available. Information about where you have made your code or models available should be included in your Data Availability Statement.

Open Practice Badges

We recognise best practices in open research by awarding Open Practice Badges to authors who openly share the data and materials underpinning their research, or who have preregistered their research plans.

Badges are awarded by author declaration. You will be asked during the submission process to confirm whether or not you have met the criteria for each badge.