Data access statements are required for publications arising from publicly-funded research. They are a requirement of many funders' data policies, the University's Research Data Management Policy, and are a requirement of the UKRI open access policy which states:
"UKRI requires in-scope research articles to include a Data Access Statement, even where there are no data associated with the article or the data are inaccessible."
One objective of the data access statement is to aid data discovery. Accordingly, data access statements should include a persistent identifier (e.g. a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)) which links directly to the dataset or to supporting documentation that describes the data in detail.
A simple 'contact the author' instruction to share data is no longer considered sufficient; access to data can become impossible when contact details change.
If you archive your data with a data repository: You should ask the repository for a persistent identifier (such as a DOI) to cite within your published papers.
If you archive your data with Research Data York: A DOI is minted when a PURE dataset record is validated by library staff.
A data access statement should be included in submitted papers, even if a persistent identifier has not yet been issued. The statement should be updated to include any persistent identifiers or accession numbers as they become available, typically when the manuscript is accepted for publication.
An example data access statement for data that cannot be archived and shared but where a PURE dataset record is created:
Cite the dataset as suggested by the data owner/publisher, or explain where the data can be accessed.
The same principles of attribution and credit apply to research data as they do to other research outputs such as journal articles or books.
Good data citation will acknowledge the original author/producer and will provide the information necessary for others to identify and locate the data you have reused.
The format and placement of a data citation may vary by journal or publisher but the core elements to include are:
Where appropriate you may also wish to include information about the Version and Resource Type.
More information on citing data can be found in the Digital Curation Centre guide how to cite datasets and link to publications. Also useful are the DataCite - cite your data and the ESRC data citation: what you need to know guidance.