Policy Principles

Use this file when deciding what a Nature-ready data statement must disclose.

Governing rules

Every original research article needs a Data Availability statement.
The statement must say what supporting data exist, where they can be found, and any access conditions.
The statement must cover data generated by the study and secondary data reused for analysis.
Public repository deposition is preferred. For community-mandated data types, use the required repository.
Reviewers may need access to underlying data and code during evaluation.
Restrictions are allowed only when they are justified and disclosed. Privacy, consent, endangered locations, third-party licences, commercial restrictions, and national law are common reasons.
Restricted data still need a durable access route: named data access committee, institution, controlled-access repository, application procedure, or responsible group.
The statement should not hide key evidence in vague language such as "data available upon reasonable request" unless the reason and process are explicit.

Ask whether an independent reader can inspect or reproduce the paper's central findings from the available material.

Include:

source data for main figures and key supplementary figures
raw or sufficiently reusable data, according to community norms
processed data used for statistics, plots, model training, or validation
analysis-ready tables if raw data require specialized transformation
third-party datasets with source, version, date accessed when relevant, and licence/access terms
representative metadata for restricted datasets, even when records themselves cannot be public

Exclude only when defensible:

data that were not used to support a result
purely theoretical work that generated or analysed no dataset
identifiable human data that cannot be anonymised or shared under consent and law

Use one route per dataset or dataset family.

Route	Use when	Statement must include
Public repository	Data can be openly shared	repository, DOI/accession, dataset title or scope, licence if known
Controlled repository	Data are sensitive but discoverable	repository, accession/record, access committee or procedure, restrictions
Supplementary/source data	Small supporting files are hosted with paper	exact file/table/source-data mapping
Reused public data	The study analyses existing public data	original repository/source, identifier, version/date accessed if needed
Third-party restricted	Data are licensed or owned by another party	owner/source, why not public, request route, permission condition
Request-based access	No repository route is possible	reason, responsible group, eligibility, expected conditions, contact route
Not applicable	No datasets were generated or analysed	concise reason; do not use for studies with any empirical data

Data Availability is not a substitute for code, materials, or protocol availability.

Put custom code in a Code Availability section when the journal separates it.
Mention code in Data Availability only when it is bundled with the dataset and needed to interpret files.
For unique biological materials, reagents, cell lines, plasmids, or model organisms, use persistent identifiers where available and state distribution restrictions separately.
For protocols, cite protocol repositories or include enough method detail for reproducibility.

For sensitive data, preserve transparency without breaching consent or law.

State:

why open sharing is not possible
whether anonymised, aggregate, synthetic, or representative data can be shared
where metadata or a summary record is available
who reviews access requests
what approval, data-use agreement, or ethics condition applies
whether access is limited to non-commercial, academic, local-jurisdiction, or qualified users

Avoid:

naming a single individual as the only durable access route when an institutional route exists
implying data are available if access depends on impossible or undefined permissions
promising public release later without a repository, date, and responsible party

Before finalizing, confirm:

Springer Nature research data policy requires Data Availability statements for original articles and asks authors to describe available data, location, and access terms.
Nature Portfolio reporting standards require prompt availability of data, materials, code, and associated protocols, with restrictions disclosed to editors at submission.
Scientific Data policy favours repository deposition, especially for primary data, and requires repository hosting for Data Descriptor datasets.