AGU requires that the underlying data and/or software or code needed to understand, evaluate, and build upon the reported research be available at the time of peer review. . Data and/or software or code should be made available in repositories that support preservation and reuse by the time of publication. This entails:

1. Depositing the data and/or software or code in a community-accepted, trusted repository, as appropriate, and preferably with a DOI
2. Including an Availability Statement explaining to the reader where and how to access the data and/or software or code
3. And including citation(s) to the deposited data and/or software or code, in the Reference Section.

For data and/or software or code not made publicly available upon submission, authors should describe where these will be shared upon publication in the Availability Statement and should upload a copy for peer review purposes only (Use the file upload type "Data File(s) for Peer Review (will not publish)").

• If some data and/or software or code are not available, request an exception for restricted access from the editor. (Please provide details in the cover letter.) In general, lack of availability with preclude publication in an AGU journal. Data and/or software or code should be as open as possible, but exceptions may be made, including for sensitive or restricted data that must be protected in some approved way (e.g., for personally identifiable information.)

• For data or software involving Indigenous Peoples, authors should be aware of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance and, if exceptions for Indigenous data sovereignty apply, discuss with their editor.

• If some data and/or software or code in the work were reused or obtained from a third-party source, cite the original source for the data and/or software or code and describe access in the Availability Statement. If a citation and DOI are not available, use the Availability Statement to document access as fully as possible; all such cases will be evaluated by the editors to decide whether they reasonably align with the spirit of AGU's data and software guidance.
• Statements such as "data available upon request" or data made available through the supplementary information of your manuscript are not compliant. Locations such as FTP sites and/or project web pages are not suitable preservation choices (see Repository Selection).
• If no data and/or software or code were created, generated, or used in this research, please note this in the Availability Statement.

Read on for more resources or click on the headings below for detailed information on:

• Writing your Availability Statement
• Citing Data and/or Software or Code in your References Section
• Citing Models & Simulations
• International Geo Sample Numbers for Physical Samples
• Other Helpful Resources for Authors Submitting to AGU Journals/Publications

If you still have questions about data and/or software or code requirements in your publication, you can contact [email protected].

The data that supports the research reported in your manuscript must be deposited in a community accepted, trusted repository. We recommend a repository that specializes in the data for your scientific domain as this will maximize the probability that the deposited data will be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). Otherwise, look to your institutional repository, your computing center, or a general repository. Note, English-language (or English translation) for any cited sources is required.

An Availability Statement, located at the end of a journal article or book chapter, contains information about your data, software, and/or code, and other research objects and how readers can access these (example available in AGU's LaTeX / Word templates).The Availability Statement is in addition to the Materials and Methods section of your manuscript, which should also describe how your data/software pertains to your research. The statement should include:

1. A brief description of the type(s) of data or software and/or code
2. Repository Name(s) where data or software and/or code are deposited
3. DOI (Persistent Identifier) [required] for data and/or software or code; or, if no DOI is available, link/URL
4. Citation in References section (Mandatory for all data and software/code with DOIs)
5. For Software/Code: Version and Link to publicly accessible development platform (E.g. GitHub)
6. Access Conditions (e.g. if registration is required)
7. Licensing/Permissions (e.g. Creative Commons Attribution)

Software and/or code, including code used to perform any data analysis and to produce the manuscript's figures, should be deposited in a community-accepted trusted repository, as appropriate, and should be made available via a publicly accessible development platform (e.g. Github), where possible. For more resources on software citation, see instructions on how to reference and cite your software (e.g. Github-Zenodo) and adding a citation file (e.g. Github).

Availability Statement Templates:

• The [type of data] data used for [brief context, description] in the study are available at [repository, source name] via [DOI, persistent identifier link, OR URL if no persistent identifier is available] with [license, access conditions]. *[An in-line name-date citation in References section is required for each DOI]
• [Version number] of [software name] used for [brief context, description of what the software or code was used for] is preserved at [Version DOI, persistent identifier link, OR URL if no persistent identifier is available], available via [license type, access conditions] and developed openly at [software development platform link]. *[An in-line name-date citation in References section is required for each DOI]

Please include in your References a formal citation to the data and software and/or code described in the Availability Statement. Additionally, please cite data and software and/or code created by others used in your research, to ensure proper credit for that work. If the data or software and/or code was described in a separate paper, please include both that paper and the deposited data or software as separate citations. Citations should include:

1. Author(s) or project name(s)
2. Date published
3. Title / name of dataset, software, and/or code
4. Data or software/code release/version (optional)
5. Bracketed description type (e.g., [Dataset], [Software], [Collection], ...)
6. Repository name / Publication venue
7. DOI

Simply linking to a URL, website, or platform is insufficient for proper citation. For an example of appropriate citation, see this example paper's Availability Statement and dataset and software citations in the References. 

Data Citation Examples:

• Fiechter, J., & Cheresh, J. (2020). Physical and biogeochemical drivers of alongshore pH and oxygen variability in the California Current System (Version 7) [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.7291/D1D96Q
• Alwarda, R., & Smith, I. (2021). Elevation data for Reflectors within the CO2 Deposit in Planum Australe, Mars [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.4639669
• Gries, C., Downs, R. R., O’Brien, M., Parr, C., Duerr, R., Koskela, R., et al. (2019). Return on Investment Metrics for Data Repositories in Earth and Environmental Sciences [Dataset]. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/PASTA/D49BEC63F51603512EFA7E0FD2717203

Software Citation Examples:

• Lab for Exosphere and Near Space Environment Studies. (2019, March 20). lenses-lab/LYAO_RT-2018JA026426: Original Release (Version 1.0.0) [Software]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2598836
• Bell, S. W. (2020). samwbell/saturn_counts: April 26, 2020 Release (Version 1.1.0) [Software]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3766959

Primary and processed data used for your research should be preserved and made available. Consulting the types of data usually preserved in domain repositories for each discipline may help identify what data should be shared. Generally, shared data include raw data, but are usually the processed or refined data that support the described results and allow other readers to assess your conclusions and build off your work. These data, as well as any data you used from other sources, should be cited in your manuscript and information included about access to the data in the Availability Statement.

Software and/or code used for your research should be preserved and made available when possible. Generally, this includes software and/or code used for analysis and visualization of the data, to produce a model output, or that someone else created and was reused in your research. These should be cited in your manuscript. The Availability Statement should detail access to the software and/or code and include a link to the development platform, if applicable.

Very large data (greater than 1 terabyte or TB) can be a challenge to preserve as there are often fees and additional resources required. One option to consider, institutions often offer solutions for data preservation and compliance. Please see the section  Other Helpful Resources for Authors Submitting to AGU Journals/Publications for more information or email [email protected].

While numerical models or theoretical work may not utilize (input) data, often “outputs” such as figures or tables are considered data and should be made available. Additionally, the software and/or code used to perform any data analysis and to produce the manuscript’s figures should be made available in a free and open platform (e.g., Github) and preserved in a repository (e.g., Zenodo). In the case where a manuscript makes no use of models, data, or analysis with software/code (e.g., a purely theoretical paper or a review paper), then make note of this point in the Data and Software Availability Statements. If your primary data for the research comes from numerical model simulations, you may find this resource in the Other Helpful Resources section helpful.

AGU recommends the use of IGSNs (International Generic Sample Numbers) for citing samples reported in manuscripts. The IGSN provides a unique identifier that allows samples to be linked across publications and discovered through a central metadata repository. We strongly encourage authors to register samples with an IGSN Allocating Agent and use IGSNs throughout their manuscript, tables, and archived data sets. We recognize IGSNs during our production process and will provide links in the manuscript and tables to the registered sample descriptions. IGSNs can be reserved before field seasons, or assigned afterwards.

Need help with formatting your data and software citations? Try CiteAs or the DOI Citation Formatter and select the Formatting Style "apa" and "en-US" for Language and Country.

AGU editors, staff, and community members have contributed resources and Data and Software Guidance for Authors Submitting to AGU Journals/Publications. Sections in the guidance are available below for quick reference:

• Considerations for publication related to data and software
• Learn more about Indigenous data sovereignty and publishing: Guidelines for the Governance of Indigenous Data in Scholarly Publishing
• Guidelines for Research Primarily Based on Numerical Models or Theory
• Selecting Your Repository
  • Domain-Discipline Repositories Useful to AGU Journals/Publications
  • Institutional Data Repositories
  • National Repositories
• During Peer Review
• Paper (Manuscript) Acceptance
• Availability Statements and Template Examples
  • Also see Data and Software Availability and Citation Checklist

If you have questions about how to comply with AGU data and software requirements for your manuscript, please contact us at [email protected].

For further reading on open science, data, and software at AGU, visit the Open Science page.