Data Deposition Policy

Syncytia collaborates with repositories like ROAD and Keepers registry to facilitate data sharing and ensure that the Syncytia data policy is followed. The article and its underlying data are paired, published together, and linked through Syncytia's integration with partner repositories. Road and Keepers are two of the current partners.

There may be a cost for submitting data to other repositories. Syncytia is unable to fund this cost, and authors are not obligated to use any particular repository. Syncytia is a self-sustaining publication that receives no financial benefit from its affiliation with any integrated partners.

In addition, Syncytia uploads all supporting information files for each article to the partners' repository.

Authors can submit their manuscripts with placeholder text in their Data Availability Statements stating that accession numbers and/or DOIs will be provided after acceptance. Prior to publication, the journal office will contact authors and request this information, and the manuscript will be held until it is obtained.

It is allowed to give reviewers and editors access to confidential data during the peer review process. Many repositories allow for private review access and have protocols in place for public release after publication.

Authors receive a tentative data set DOI as well as a private reviewer URL link when they submit data in the integrated repository. Authors should include the data set DOI in the Data Availability Statement when submitting to Syncytia. They should also include the reviewer URL, which will allow for restricted data access during peer review. If a manuscript is accepted by Syncytia, the article's publication and the public release of the data set will be synchronized automatically.

If any author cannot afford the cost of depositing a large amount of data, in that case, Syncytia advises authors to look into all of their alternatives and to contact their institutions if they are having trouble getting access to the data that underpins their research. Syncytia recommends various repositories that specialize in processing massive data sets. The policies should not go beyond the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license in terms of restrictions.