Data Availability Policy

Civil Engineering Science and Technology (CEST) supports the principles of research transparency, reproducibility, and open scientific communication. The journal encourages authors to make the research data underlying their published findings available whenever legally, ethically, and practically possible. Sharing research data enhances the credibility of published work, facilitates verification of research findings, and promotes future scientific collaboration.

Data Availability Statement

CEST requires all submitted manuscripts to include a Data Availability Statement describing the availability of the data supporting the reported findings. The statement should be included in the manuscript before the References section or in another designated section specified by the journal template.

Where applicable, authors are encouraged to indicate:

  • Where the research data can be accessed;
  • The name of the repository where the data are deposited;
  • Persistent identifiers (such as DOI or accession number);
  • Any conditions or restrictions on data access.

Types of Data Availability

Authors may use one of the following statements, depending on the nature of their research. 

Publicly Available Data

The research data are openly available in a public repository.

Example:

Data Availability Statement: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are publicly available in the [Repository Name] repository at: https://doi.org/xxxxx.

Available Upon Reasonable Request

Where data cannot be deposited publicly, authors should indicate that the data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Example:

Data Availability Statement: The datasets generated during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Restricted Data

Where legal, ethical, contractual, proprietary, confidentiality, or security considerations prevent public data sharing, authors should clearly explain the reason.

Example:

Data Availability Statement: The datasets are not publicly available due to confidentiality agreements with the project sponsor but may be made available upon reasonable request subject to institutional approval.

No New Data Generated

For review articles, theoretical studies, methodological papers, or similar research that does not generate original datasets, authors may state:

Data Availability Statement: No new datasets were generated or analyzed during this study.

Recommended Data Repositories

CEST encourages authors to deposit research data in reliable and internationally recognized repositories appropriate to their discipline.

Examples include:

  • Zenodo
  • Figshare
  • Dryad
  • Harvard Dataverse
  • Mendeley Data
  • Open Science Framework (OSF)
  • Institutional repositories
  • GitHub
  • Government or discipline-specific repositories

Authors are encouraged to use repositories that assign persistent identifiers (DOIs) to ensure long-term accessibility.

Data Quality and Responsibility

Authors remain solely responsible for:

  • The accuracy and completeness of the shared data;
  • Proper documentation and organization of datasets;
  • Compliance with ethical, legal, contractual, and institutional requirements;
  • Protection of confidential, proprietary, or personally identifiable information.

The editorial office does not independently verify the scientific accuracy of deposited datasets but may request clarification when necessary.

Sensitive and Confidential Data

CEST recognizes that certain datasets cannot be shared publicly due to:

  • Privacy or personal data protection;
  • National security considerations;
  • Commercial confidentiality;
  • Intellectual property restrictions;
  • Contractual obligations;
  • Ethical limitations.

In such cases, authors should clearly explain the reason for restricted access in the Data Availability Statement. 

Editorial Assessment

Editors may evaluate the adequacy of the submitted Data Availability Statement during the editorial assessment. Where appropriate, authors may be requested to revise or clarify the statement before the manuscript proceeds to publication. Failure to provide an appropriate Data Availability Statement may delay the editorial process.

Policy Compliance

Submission of a manuscript to CEST confirms that the authors have provided an accurate Data Availability Statement consistent with this policy. The journal encourages responsible data sharing while respecting ethical, legal, commercial, and institutional obligations.

Example Statements

To assist authors, CEST recommends the following standardized statements.

Open Data

The datasets generated and analyzed during this study are available in the Zenodo repository at https://doi.org/xxxxx.

Available Upon Request

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Restricted Data

The data supporting the findings of this study are subject to confidentiality agreements and are therefore not publicly available.

No New Data

No new datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.