Data Availability Policy

Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances (DHTA) recognizes the importance of research data transparency, responsible data management, and reproducibility in advancing reliable scientific knowledge. The journal encourages authors to provide clear information regarding the availability, accessibility, and responsible use of the data supporting their research findings.

The journal acknowledges that digital health research may involve sensitive healthcare information, clinical datasets, electronic health records, physiological measurements, wearable-device data, telemonitoring information, and other forms of health-related data that require appropriate ethical, legal, and privacy protections.

Authors are therefore expected to provide an accurate Data Availability Statement describing whether the data supporting their research are available, restricted, or unavailable due to legitimate ethical, legal, privacy, confidentiality, or ownership considerations.

1. Purpose of the Data Availability Policy

The purpose of this policy is to promote transparency and responsible research practices while protecting sensitive information and participant rights.

A clear Data Availability Statement helps readers understand:

Whether supporting research data exist.
How and where the data may be accessed.
Whether restrictions apply to data sharing.
What conditions are required for responsible data access.

The journal supports appropriate data transparency while recognizing that unrestricted sharing is not always possible, particularly in healthcare and digital health research.

2. Data Availability Statement Requirement

Authors submitting manuscripts to Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances should include a Data Availability Statement within their manuscript.

The statement should accurately describe the status of the research data, including one of the following situations:

Data are openly available through a recognized repository or public data platform.
Data are available from the authors or research institution upon reasonable request.
Data are available under controlled access due to privacy, ethical, or regulatory restrictions.
Data cannot be shared because of confidentiality, legal, contractual, or proprietary limitations.

Authors should avoid making inaccurate claims regarding data availability.

3. Sharing of Research Data

Where ethically and legally appropriate, authors are encouraged to make supporting research data available through suitable repositories or institutional platforms.

Examples of potentially shareable research materials may include:

Anonymized datasets.
Research protocols.
Statistical analysis files.
Computational models.
Software code where applicable.
Supplementary research materials.

Data should be shared in a manner that supports verification and reuse while maintaining appropriate protections.

4. Protection of Sensitive Health Information

Digital health research frequently involves information that may identify individuals or reveal sensitive health conditions. The journal requires authors to protect participant privacy and confidentiality.

Authors must ensure that:

Personally identifiable information is removed or appropriately protected.
Data sharing complies with ethical approval requirements.
Informed consent requirements are considered where applicable.
Sensitive health information is not disclosed without appropriate authorization.

The journal does not require authors to publicly release data when doing so would compromise participant confidentiality, privacy rights, or legal obligations.

5. Data Access Restrictions

The journal recognizes that some datasets cannot be openly shared due to legitimate restrictions.

Acceptable reasons for restricted data access may include:

Protection of participant confidentiality.
Ethical committee requirements.
Healthcare privacy obligations.
Institutional restrictions.
Commercial or proprietary ownership.
Legal or contractual limitations.

In such cases, authors should clearly explain the reason for restricted access and provide information about possible controlled access procedures where applicable.

6. Requirements for AI and Digital Health Research Data

For manuscripts involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive models, or automated healthcare systems, authors should provide sufficient information regarding:

Data sources and characteristics.
Data preparation procedures.
Training and validation approaches.
Model evaluation methods.
Potential limitations and bias considerations.

Transparent reporting of datasets and analytical procedures supports responsible development and evaluation of digital health technologies.

7. Data Citation and Research Transparency

When publicly available datasets are used, authors should provide appropriate citations and acknowledge the original data sources.

Authors are encouraged to:

Cite datasets using recognized citation practices.
Provide repository identifiers where available.
Clearly distinguish between original research data and external datasets.

Proper data citation supports recognition of data contributors and improves research traceability.

8. Editorial Review of Data Availability

Editors and reviewers may consider the adequacy of data availability information during the manuscript evaluation process.

The journal may request clarification when:

Data availability statements are unclear.
Research findings cannot be appropriately evaluated.
Data-related ethical concerns arise.

Data sharing decisions remain subject to ethical, legal, privacy, and institutional requirements.

9. Commitment to Responsible Data Practices

Digital Health & Telemonitoring Advances supports responsible data practices that balance scientific transparency with participant protection and ethical obligations.

The journal encourages researchers to adopt appropriate data management practices that improve reproducibility, strengthen research credibility, and promote responsible innovation in digital health and telemonitoring.