Data Availability & Citation Policy

Open Christian Press affirms the value of data transparency, reproducibility, and proper attribution in scholarly research. We recognize that not all disciplines require the use of datasets, but where applicable, we encourage authors to make their underlying data accessible to readers and to cite sources in a way that supports verifiability, openness, and academic integrity.

We believe that knowledge flourishes in community and that sharing data—where ethically and practically possible—contributes to both the credibility and usefulness of research.

Data Availability

Authors whose work involves empirical research, structured datasets, statistical analysis, code, or supplementary files are strongly encouraged to make those materials publicly available. Authors may share data through:

Institutional repositories
Open data platforms such as Zenodo, Figshare, Dryad, or OSF
Project-specific repositories such as Harvard Dataverse, ICPSR, or World Bank Open Data
Supplementary uploads alongside their manuscript (when technically feasible)

If authors are unable to share data due to ethical restrictions, privacy concerns, or third-party limitations, they should clearly explain this in a Data Availability Statement included at the end of the manuscript or within the methodology section.

Examples include:

“The dataset generated for this study is available on Zenodo at [link], DOI: [DOI].”
“Due to participant confidentiality, the data underlying this study cannot be shared publicly. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.”

Where applicable, authors are also encouraged to submit codebooks, analysis scripts, or interview protocols to accompany their data for clarity and replicability.

Citation of Open Data

Authors must properly cite all datasets used in their research, whether internally generated or externally sourced. Datasets should be cited in the reference list using formal data citation formats, including author (or repository), year, title, version, and persistent link or DOI.

For example:

World Bank. (2023). World Development Indicators (Version 2023.1) [Dataset]. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators

This not only gives proper credit to data creators but also allows readers to locate and verify data used in the study.

Editorial Encouragement, Not Enforcement

At Open Christian Press, we recognize the diversity of methodologies and theological traditions represented across our journals. We do not impose data-sharing as a mandatory condition for publication unless the research field or journal scope explicitly requires it. However, we believe that transparency, when thoughtfully practiced, serves both scholarly integrity and the broader public good.

For questions related to data sharing or citation practices, authors are welcome to contact our editorial team at editor@openchristian.education.

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Data Availability & Citation Policy