Research integrity

Every article published in Research and Reviews in Sustainability carries a data availability statement. Where there is no underlying data, or the data cannot be shared, the statement says so and says why.

Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit the data behind a paper in a recognised repository and to cite it with its own persistent identifier, following the FAIR data principles: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Where data cannot be released, for example because it identifies people or is held under a third-party agreement, the statement names the constraint and the route by which a reader could apply for access.

Code that is necessary to reproduce a result is treated as data. Research and Reviews in Sustainability works towards the TOP Guidelines.

Where a recognised reporting guideline exists for the study design, authors are expected to follow it and to submit the completed checklist. The current guidelines are collected by the EQUATOR Network.

• Randomised trials: CONSORT 2025.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: PRISMA.
• Research involving animals: the ARRIVE guidelines.

Research involving human participants, human material or identifiable human data must have been approved by a properly constituted research ethics committee before it began, and must have been conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2024). The article must name the approving body and quote the approval reference.

Informed consent must have been obtained from every participant. Where an individual is identifiable in any part of the article, including an image, written consent to publication is required and must be available to the editor on request.

Research involving animals must have been approved by the relevant body and must be reported in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines.

Every article carries a funding statement naming every source of support, with grant numbers where they exist and the funder identified by its ROR identifier where one is available. Where the work received no specific funding, the statement says so.

A funder has no role in the design of a study, in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data, in the writing of the article, or in the decision to submit it. Where a funder has had any such role, it must be described in the funding statement.

Every submission to Research and Reviews in Sustainability is screened with iThenticate before it reaches an editor. The report is read by the editorial office rather than reduced to a threshold: a high overlap that is entirely correctly quoted and cited is not misconduct, and a low overlap concentrated in a results section can be.

Where screening raises a concern, the submission is held and the corresponding author is asked to account for it before any decision is taken.

Posting a preprint before submission is permitted and encouraged. It is not prior publication. Authors should disclose the preprint at submission and give its DOI, and should update the preprint record with a link to the published version once the article appears.