DATA AVAILABILITY POLICY

Policy Statement

TRANSFORMA: Journal of Community Innovation and Transformation encourages transparency, reproducibility, and responsible sharing of research and community service data to enhance the credibility and long-term value of published scholarly work.

Authors are encouraged to make the data, materials, and supporting documentation underlying their manuscripts available whenever legally, ethically, and practically possible.

The journal recognizes that community service activities may involve confidential, personal, institutional, or culturally sensitive information. Therefore, data sharing should always respect privacy, ethical obligations, legal requirements, and agreements with community partners.

Data Availability Statement

Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscripts describing the availability of data supporting the reported work.

Examples include:

  • Data are publicly available in a trusted repository.
  • Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
  • Data cannot be publicly shared due to ethical, legal, confidentiality, or institutional restrictions.
  • No datasets were generated or analyzed during the reported community service activity.

Types of Supporting Materials

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to share supporting materials such as:

  • Survey instruments.
  • Questionnaires.
  • Community training modules.
  • Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
  • Educational materials.
  • Observation sheets.
  • Evaluation instruments.
  • Anonymous datasets.
  • Statistical outputs.
  • Photographs or documentation (with appropriate permission).
  • Multimedia supporting files.
  • Other supplementary materials that enhance the transparency and reproducibility of the work.

Ethical and Legal Considerations

Authors must ensure that shared materials:

  • Do not disclose confidential or personally identifiable information.
  • Respect the privacy and dignity of community participants.
  • Comply with applicable laws, institutional regulations, and ethical standards.
  • Do not violate copyright or intellectual property rights.
  • Have obtained all necessary permissions where required.

Where public sharing is not possible, authors should explain the reason in the Data Availability Statement.

Editorial Assessment

The Editorial Board may request clarification regarding the availability of supporting data or materials during the editorial process whenever necessary.

Failure to provide requested information without reasonable justification may affect the editorial evaluation of the manuscript.

Recommended Repositories

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets or supplementary materials in trusted institutional or public repositories to ensure long-term accessibility and preservation.

The choice of repository remains the responsibility of the authors.

Responsibility of Authors

Authors are solely responsible for:

  • The accuracy of shared data.
  • Compliance with ethical and legal requirements.
  • Obtaining necessary permissions.
  • Protecting confidential information.
  • Ensuring that shared materials accurately represent the reported community service activities.

Commitment to Transparency

TRANSFORMA supports responsible data sharing as an important component of scholarly communication while recognizing that not all data can or should be made publicly available.

The journal promotes a balanced approach that encourages transparency, protects research participants and community partners, and respects ethical, legal, and institutional obligations.