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Did you know that an article published in a journal can be withdrawn from circulation at any time? This withdrawal is called article restriction, which is bad news for researchers. Article withdrawals are triggered by the presence of a serious error in the article, which may have been overlooked during the review process. Article withdrawals can be initiated by the researcher themselves or by the journal editor. If a researcher is aware of an error or mistake in an article, but the article has already been published in a journal and is widely circulated, they can request the journal editor to retract it. Such article withdrawals are generally appreciated, as they demonstrate good intentions and high academic integrity. However, if the withdrawal is unilaterally initiated by the journal editor, it indicates deliberate fraud by the researcher in the research or article writing process. This fraud can include data falsification and fabrication, plagiarism, false claims of authorship, multiple submissions, or violations of professional ethics. Such withdrawals negatively impact a researcher's reputation and could even lead to blacklisting by all journals.

Many researchers underestimate the process of article formatting. However, more than 40% of outright rejections, also known as desk rejections, are triggered by incorrect formatting, as reported by Muñoz-Carpena et al. (2020) in their article entitled "Editorial - Why it is a Blessing to be Rejected: Improving Science with Quality Publications." The large number of articles submitted to a journal and the limited publication slots per issue force journal editors to be highly selective, even for non-substantive matters. Imagine, for example, 100 articles have been submitted to a journal, while the publication slots for that journal are only 10 articles per issue. The journal editor will only review a maximum of two publication slots (20 articles), and the remaining 80 articles will be rejected outright without any review process at all (desk rejection). It certainly wasn't difficult for the journal editor to find errors in the 80 articles he rejected, and one of the reasons was formatting issues.

One of the biggest fears for researchers when submitting articles to journals for publication is desk rejection. Muñoz-Carpena et al. (2020) in their article "Editorial – Why it is a Blessing to be Rejected: Improving Science with Quality Publications" revealed that 70% of articles submitted to journals are rejected. There are five main reasons why an article is rejected.

No researcher is perfect, and no research project can be perfectly conducted. Every study has its limitations, particularly those related to the data and methods used. Unfortunately, many researchers are afraid and embarrassed to articulate these limitations. Researchers who effectively state the limitations of their data can help inform audiences about the reliability of their findings and conclusions. Presenting limitations effectively is an excellent way to communicate the credibility of the research to readers.

Allowing readers to access research data is considered good practice in science and is a mechanism for promoting transparency in scientific progress. For this reason, most journals require a data availability statement (DAS), in which authors publicly provide the information necessary for others to reproduce the research.

A data availability statement (DAS) is a piece of information that informs readers whether the data behind a research project is accessible and, if so, where and how. Ideally, researchers should include hyperlinks to public databases to make it easier for readers to find them. An example of a data availability statement is: "The raw and processed data needed to reproduce the above findings are available for download; please visit the following link: (insert link)."

If research data cannot be shared publicly for some reason, researchers can issue a statement of unavailability. For example, "The raw and processed data needed to reproduce the above findings cannot be shared at this time due to legal/ethical/technical limitations, or because they are part of ongoing research."

As mentioned previously, the most common practice for sharing datasets is to provide a permanent web link. This ensures near-universal access. There are no restrictions on the choice of database; authors can use any database they wish, but depending on the journal to which they submit their paper, they may be invited to upload their dataset to that particular journal. This is a way to encourage authors to include a Data Availability Statement during submission for publication. However, in general, authors can also link their dataset directly to their article.

In fact, a Data Availability Statement is only a sentence or two long, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be included in an article. Furthermore, most journals and funders require it for submission purposes. A data availability statement is important because it supports:

Data validation. Impactful findings emerge from solid data. Data validation is often overlooked, yet it is key to achieving accurate results. By providing readers with access to the data, researchers are giving them the opportunity to verify the quality and legitimacy of the data underlying their articles. Furthermore, this also makes it easier for researchers to find and access more scientific materials essential for developing their own work.
Information Reuse. Scientific progress ultimately depends on the use and reuse of information. Data Availability Statements enable research data to be easily found, properly reviewed, and validated by scientists who may need it for further research. Together with database indexing, these statements are a highly effective tool for public access to a network of scientific information, making it easier for researchers to develop their scientific projects and further their knowledge.
Perhaps the best news for authors regarding Data Access Statements is that they certainly help increase the chances of being cited (correctly) by other researchers. As you probably already know, the number of citations is an important factor when calculating a researcher's relevance metric (H-index). The higher a researcher's H-index, the greater their visibility and recognition.

The importance of Data Availability Statements (DAS) to transparency in science cannot be overstated. SDSS ensures that researchers are properly recognized for their work and helps science thrive as a discipline, where continuous progress is a key pillar.