Data sharing practices in high-impact rehabilitation journals

The demand for rehabilitation services is rising due to the aging population and increasing number of chronic conditions. High-quality research is essential to address these challenges, with recent mandates emphasizing the importance of data sharing for transparency and reproducibility. However, data sharing remains limited across clinical research. Data sharing statements (DSS) have been proposed to improve accessibility, but their implementation and effectiveness in rehabilitation research remain unclear. We aim to identify barriers and guide future policies for standardizing data sharing in the field of rehabilitation.

On June 6th, 2024, a PubMed/MEDLINE search identified clinical studies from five top rehabilitation journals based on impact factor. We extracted DSS and general characteristics in a duplicated and masked fashion to identify influential factors on DSS inclusion and then used a hierarchical logistic regression and thematic analysis. Email requests were sent to authors to verify their willingness to share data.

Of 1,278 studies that underwent data extraction, 25.5% of studies in our sample featured a DSS; however, this figure was significantly influenced by one journal with a 99% inclusion rate, while the other four journals collectively had only a 5% rate. Further analysis of 314 DSS revealed the majority designated a gatekeeper role for handling data requests. After emailing authors to verify their commitment to the reported DSS, only 22.7% adhered to them.

Our study found substantial variation in DSS inclusion across rehabilitation journals, reflecting inconsistencies in how data sharing policies are implemented. We also identified a significant gap between stated data sharing intentions and actual author follow-through. These findings highlight the need for stronger accountability mechanisms. We recommend adopting the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) to provide a framework for data sharing in the field of rehabilitation. Further standardization of DSS is needed, as alternative methods like data repositories have been shown to improve transparency and reproducibility.

Clinical trial number: not applicable.