Data Availability Policy

P-ISSN: 3117-8065 | E-ISSN: 3117-8073

Data Availability Policy

The ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine supports transparency, reproducibility, and research integrity in scholarly publishing. Authors are encouraged to make the raw data, assay measurements, and diagnostic datasets underlying their reported findings available whenever sharing is ethically, legally, contractually, and technically appropriate, thereby supporting verification, replication, secondary analysis, and further laboratory investigation.

Responsible data sharing can strengthen the credibility, reliability, and long-term value of published laboratory research while promoting scholarly collaboration and the advancement of diagnostic medicine. Data availability must not compromise patient privacy, informed-consent conditions, confidentiality obligations, intellectual-property rights, or applicable institutional and regulatory requirements.

Data Availability Statement Format

Research articles should include an accurate Data Availability Statement describing whether and how the underlying laboratory data may be accessed. Appropriate statement formats include:

Available upon Reasonable Request: "The laboratory datasets supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable ethical, privacy, and institutional requirements."

Public Repository: "The raw assay and analytical data supporting this study are publicly available in [Repository Name] at [persistent link or accession number]."

Restricted Access: "The data generated or analyzed during this study are not publicly available due to patient privacy, legal, or confidentiality restrictions. Information regarding permitted access may be obtained from [responsible contact/institution]."

Suitable Data Repositories

Where appropriate, authors should deposit laboratory research data in a trusted disciplinary, institutional, or general-purpose repository that provides stable access and clear reuse conditions:

Zenodo Figshare Dryad OSF (Open Science Framework) Institutional Data Repositories

Ethical & Legal Compliance

Patient privacy, confidentiality, and consent conditions must be protected.

Direct and indirect identifiers must be anonymized before sharing clinical lab datasets.

Required institutional permissions, ethics approvals, and data authorizations must be obtained.

Data sharing must not violate copyright, proprietary diagnostic rights, or applicable law.

Valid Restrictions on Public Data Sharing

ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine recognizes that unrestricted public data sharing may be inappropriate or prohibited in certain circumstances. Legitimate restrictions may include:

Ethical & Patient Privacy Restrictions Protection of identifiable patient health information, genomic data, or clinical samples subject to informed consent limits.

Legal & Contractual Restrictions Compliance with laboratory data-use agreements, institutional confidentiality obligations, statutory restrictions, or intellectual-property conditions.

Commercial & Proprietary Restrictions Legitimate proprietary diagnostic interests, patent-pending assay formulations, or commercially sensitive instrument data.

Editorial Assessment

During editorial assessment or peer review, ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine may request clarification of the Data Availability Statement, accession numbers, or supporting laboratory records, while respecting ethical and legal restrictions.

Research Data Management

ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine encourages authors to follow recognized FAIR data principles by preparing clear documentation, metadata, suitable file formats, and persistent identifiers to support research discovery.

Policy Review & Updates

This policy is reviewed periodically and updated when necessary to reflect developments in open-science practices, research data management, repository standards, and scholarly publishing procedures.

Author Responsibility: Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, integrity, documentation, lawful use, confidentiality, and appropriate sharing of research data. ICME Journal of Laboratory Medicine does not control or guarantee long-term availability of datasets deposited in third-party repositories.