How do I phrase a data availability statement to include in my manuscript?

First check if the journal/publisher have specific requirements in their Instructions to Authors regarding the form and phrasing of your data availability statement (DAS). Many provide their own templates that you can/should use or adapt, see for example these examples:

• Writing a data availability statement | Taylor and Francis
• Data Availability Statements | Oxford Academic
   

If the journal/publisher does not provide their own specific requirements, you can most likely find a suitable phrase on the above pages.

If data cannot be published openly, the data availability statement should generally include the reasons for this and information about how/where data can be requested. Below we provide two examples based on solutions we offer at SLU. The reason for keeping data closed may of course vary so make sure you adapt for your specific case. Also remember to check with the journal for compliance with their guidelines.

Data availability statement for data with restricted access

If you have deposited data with the Swedish National Data Service (SND):

"The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants. Data can be requested from the Swedish National Data Service. A description of the data and information about how to request them are available at [DOI to entry in the SND Catalogue]. The research principal will conduct a confidentiality review to establish whether the legal conditions for data release are satisfied."

If you have published a data description in the Swedish National Data Service with a link to restricted data in the SLU e-archive, you can either use the above example and point directly to the SLU archive, or point to the description in the SND catalogue:

"The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants. Data can be requested from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences archive. A description of the data and information about how to request them are available in the Swedish National Data Service at [URL to catalogue entry in SND]. The research principal will conduct a confidentiality review to establish whether the legal conditions for data release are satisfied."
 

Data on request

For data which cannot be published openly for privacy or other reasons, and which have not been described in SND or deposited in the SLU e-archive, you should write:

”The data can be requested from registrator@slu. SLU as research principal will conduct a secrecy examination to establish whether the legal conditions for data release are satisfied."

Adding the dataset to the list of references

Remember to cite the dataset and include it in the list of references. More information about this can be found in the following FAQ:

• How do I write a correct reference to a published dataset?