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• Policy
• How to make replication materials available
• Further points to consider
• Example Data Availability Statements

Policy

The British Actuarial Journal (BAJ) editorial team and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) believe that research articles should contain sufficient information to allow others to understand, verify and replicate new findings and that sharing data can help to improve the impact of research. Therefore, wherever possible, we encourage authors to make replication materials such as data and software code available to readers alongside their article and without undue barriers to access.

How to make replication materials available

All authors should include ‘Data Availability Statement’ at the end of the final article file. 

At the initial submission, this can just state whether the authors intend to make replication materials available. On revision, the Data Availability Statement should be a final, publishable statement that either links to the replication materials if they are available, explains why they cannot be made available, or states why data availability is not relevant. See example statements further down this page.

Replication materials can be made available in the following ways:

• Via community resources (preferred), such as data and code repositories, providing a DOI or permanent identifier to the replication materials in the Data Availability Statement. r3data.org is a registry of suitable data repositories that are: run by a legal entity (a sustainable institution such as a library or university); clarify access conditions to the user; and have long-term storage plans. We recommend Zenodo, which is a free-to-use general purpose repository funded by the European OpenAIRE program and operated by CERN. Authors sharing code can do so via GitHub and use this GitHub integration with Zenodo to obtain a DOI to make it citable. Authors wanting to share confidential data can find options in this list of protected access repostories
• As supplementary material. Replication materials can be provided through the online submission system to be published as supplementary material, hosted by the journal. Note, however, that unlike data and code repositories, supplementary materials do not receive a DOI.  Files provided as supplementary material will not be copy edited or otherwise modified before publication.

Further points to consider:

• Replication materials should contain a “README” file, explaining what is included and how the code should be run, as well as a replication script that can be used to directly reproduce the results in the paper.
• Authors should also adhere to any additional requirements that may apply to them in the policies of their research funders and host institutions.
• BAJ assumes no responsibility for the data uploaded to external repositories or hosted as supplementary material.
• BAJ does not undertake a review of data and code for regular research submissions: the onus is on authors to deposit appropriate materials. However, BAJ does check replication materials provided with actuarial software papers.
• Authors are responsible for ensuring that the data are usable and suitably anonymised, the files uncorrupted, and for addressing any eventual questions from scholars wishing to replicate the authors’ results.
• Articles and supplementary material should not include sensitive information, for example personally identifiable data. De-identified data should be provided as far as that is safe and practical to do. If that is not possible, aggregated data derived from sensitive data should be provided. When anonymising data, be sure to take into account both direct and indirect identifiers.

Example Data Availability Statements

All authors should include ‘Data Availability Statement’ at the end of the final article file. 

Example statements are in Table 1 below, including those that give reasons why replication materials cannot be shared.

BAJ and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFOA) assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the author’s Data Availability Statement, the resources that are linked to in the Data Availability Statement, or supplementary material provided by the author. Where the Data Availability Statement links to an external repository or another entity holding the resources, this does not imply an endorsement or warranty given by that organisation to the published article.

STATUS OF DATA AND MATERIALS	EXAMPLE STATEMENT
Replication materials openly available in a public repository, with a permanent identifier (such as a DOI)	The data and code that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at http://doi.org/[doi], reference number [reference number].
Replication materials available as supplementary materials	The authors confirm that the data and code supporting the findings of this study are available as supplementary materials accompanying the article.
Replication materials are embargoed due to commercial restrictions	The data and code that support the findings of this study will be available in [repository name] at [URL / DOI link] following a [6 month] embargo from the date of publication, to allow for commercialisation of research findings.
Replication materials only available on request due to privacy/ethical/commercial restrictions	The data and code that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [initials]. The data are not publicly available due to [restrictions e.g. their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants].
Replication materials generated at a central, large-scale facility, available upon request	Raw data were generated at [facility name]. Derived data and code supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [initials] on request.
Replication materials subject to third party restrictions	The data and code that support the findings of this study are available from [third party]. Restrictions apply to the availability of the data, which were used under licence for this study. Data are available [from the authors / at URL] with the permission of [third party].
Data sharing not applicable – no new data generated	Data availability is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
Replication materials available on request from the authors	The data and code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [author initials], upon reasonable request.