Evaluating Data Sharing Practices in Top Social Science Journals: Insights and Implications

The rise of data-driven research and the open data movement, supported by initiatives like the FAIR Principles, TOP Guidelines, and DA-RT statement, has significantly advanced journal policies on data sharing, reproducibility, and citation in social science.

Building on the study by Crosas et al. (2018), which analyzed the top 50 ranked journals across six social science disciplines, the project broadens its scope by examining the data policies outlined in the author guidelines of the top 10% of journals within each sub-discipline under social sciences. Using the 2023 Journal Impact Factor (JIF) from the Web of Science, the study includes 814 journals spanning 49 social science disciplines.

This presentation examines changes in data sharing and availability policies in top social science journals, focusing on key aspects such as requirements for data sharing, linking, references, and statements. It evaluates policy compliance across social science disciplines and discusses the implications for librarians, particularly those in data services units.