Data, Code and Reproducibility

Openness about the data, code and materials behind published findings strengthens confidence in research and supports reproducibility, which is central to engineering and computing. TECS therefore encourages authors to share the data, code and models underlying their results to the fullest extent that ethics, law and licensing permit.

Data and code availability statement

Each research article should include a Data and Code Availability Statement explaining whether, and how, the data, code and models supporting the results may be accessed. Where they cannot be shared — for reasons of confidentiality, commercial sensitivity, security, third-party licensing or personal-data protection — the statement should say so and explain why. Typical formulations include:

Recommended practice

Where sharing is appropriate, deposit data and code in a recognised, citable repository that issues a persistent identifier — for example Zenodo, figshare, the Open Science Framework, or a snapshot of a version-controlled repository archived for permanence — and cite it in the reference list. Report the datasets, splits, hyperparameters, models, random seeds and computational environment needed to reproduce the results, and provide clear instructions for running the code.

Restricted and personal data

The sharing of data must never override confidentiality, consent terms, security or data-protection obligations. Personal data must be anonymised before sharing, and datasets must be shared in accordance with their licences (see Research Ethics & Consent and the Privacy Policy).

Funding disclosure

Authors must also state all sources of funding for the research, including grant numbers, or confirm that the research received no specific funding.