Research data management

Journal of Energy Technology supports open access to research data, which form the basis of modern scientific research.

About research data

Research data are data obtained through various methods to understand, test or confirm hypotheses and draw conclusions, and are generated or processed during research. It can be in various formats: notes, interviews, photographs, transcripts, numerical research data, software code, and other related material. If data is not recorded or stored in digital form, one should consider whether this material can be digitized, as this facilitates appropriate long-term preservation and reuse in a data repository. A data repository enables storage and access to different types of data (e.g. research data, public sector data, etc.) and associated documentation.

The availability of data increases the transparency and verifiability of research results and improves their usability in future studies, thereby increasing the investment in already collected data. Data sharing can also promote the professional development of researchers by increasing the visibility of their work and facilitating collaboration with new partners.

Policy on the mandatory citation of research data

According to the Decree on the implementation of scientific research work in accordance with the principles of open science, the journal’s co-funder (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency) requires the editorial board to provide open access to the research data used in the article prior to publication. The data must be prepared according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Exceptions to open access to research data

If data cannot be fully shared for legal, ethical or other valid reasons, the authors must provide justification – for example, in cases involving the protection of personal data (see the EU General Data Protection Regulation), material containing trade secrets or other commercially sensitive information regulated by legislation, or data involving security risks. The Regulation requires authors to provide open access to research data and other results from co-funded research according to the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

When public disclosure of research data is not possible, it is recommended to provide appropriate metadata that describe the dataset, enable its identification, and explain why access to the data is restricted.

List of trusted repositories

Authors must deposit research data in trusted data repositories, archives or centers that provide appropriate access arrangements. The trusted repositories recommended by the journal’s co-funder are listed here.

The editorial board recommends that Slovenian researchers deposit their research data in trusted national repositories, such as:

• Digital Library of the University of Maribor
• Digital Repository of Research Organizations of Slovenia (DiRROS)
• Repository of the University of Ljubljana
• Repository of the University of Nova Gorica
• Repository of the University of Primorska
• Slovenian Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN.SI)
• Slovenian Social Science Data Archives (ADP)
• Zenodo

Authors can also search for a suitable repository using tools such as FAIRsharing or re3data.org.

We recommend using the Creative Commons licenses CC BY 4.0 or CC0 1.0 (or equivalent) when publishing research data.

Citation of research data

Authors must cite all data sources appropriately in accordance with the journal’s citation style (APA 7^th) or explain in the ‘Data Availability Statement’ if the data has not been digitized or has not been published due to other restrictions (e.g. Personal Data Protection Act (ZVOP-2), Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP)).

Data Availability Statement templates

To facilitate the preparation of a Data Availability Statement, we have prepared several templates for authors, which they may adapt to the specifics of their article:

“The article is based on research data stored in (selected repository) and publicly available at (https://... (e.g. DOI).”

“The article is based on research data from existing and publicly available sources (textual sources, databases) listed in the References section.”

“The article is based on research data stored in (selected repository) that are not publicly available, or are available from the author upon a reasoned request.”

“The article is based on archival sources listed in the References section.”

“The article does not rely on the use of research data.”

“The article is based on data fully presented and discussed within the article itself; therefore, no additional data archiving is required.”

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the article as a separate section, placed before the References section.

Responsibilities of authors, editors and reviewers

Authors must provide editors and reviewers with appropriate information about the research data underlying the article or explain the reasons why the data is not accessible. Where possible, and in compliance with legal, ethical, and contractual restrictions, the research data should be made available to editors and reviewers during the review process, and to all readers no later than upon publication of the article. An embargo on data access is only permitted in exceptional cases and must be accompanied by appropriate embargo conditions and a reasoned explanation. It is the editor’s responsibility to assess whether the article is based on research data (either the author’s own data or third-party data). If the editor determines that such data exists and has not been properly cited, he or she must ask the author to revise the article. The same applies to the journal's reviewers.

Additional information

For further clarification, authors can contact the data steward at their institution or the journal’s editorial office (jurij.avsec@um.si) or contact relevant support institutions for research data management.