Data Sharing Policy

Surgical Research (SR) encourages authors to share the underlying data supporting their published research, in line with the broader scientific community's movement toward transparency and reproducibility, consistent with ICMJE's data sharing statement requirements.

Data Availability Statement

Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript, indicating where the data supporting their findings can be accessed. This may include deposition in a recognized public repository, availability upon reasonable request to the corresponding author, or a clear explanation of any restrictions on data sharing (such as patient privacy or proprietary device-design constraints) where full sharing is not possible, consistent with the journal's Author Guidelines.

Recommended Repositories

Where appropriate to the type of data generated, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in an established, discipline-appropriate public repository — such as Figshare, Zenodo, or Dryad for general research data, or a clinical trial registry such as ClinicalTrials.gov for interventional surgical studies — rather than relying solely on supplementary files.

Patient Privacy

Where research involves human participant data, including intraoperative or radiographic imaging, authors must ensure that any shared data has been appropriately de-identified in accordance with applicable data protection regulations and institutional requirements, and that data sharing does not violate the terms of the original informed consent obtained from participants (see Ethical Approvals & Human/Animal Rights).

Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged to provide sufficient detail regarding their surgical technique, methodology, materials, and analytical approach to allow other researchers and clinicians to understand, evaluate, and where appropriate, reproduce the reported findings.

Code and Software

Where a study involves the use of custom code, scripts, or software for statistical or imaging analysis, authors are encouraged to make this available through a recognized code repository such as GitHub or Zenodo, and to cite the repository within the manuscript.

Exceptions

The journal recognizes that not all data can be shared openly due to legitimate ethical, legal, or proprietary constraints, particularly where industry-supplied surgical device data is involved. Authors unable to share underlying data should clearly state the reason within their Data Availability Statement, consistent with the journal's Publication Ethics standards.