Comptes Rendus

Open Data Policy

Source files

Authors who would like to publish in any series of Comptes Rendus are requested to provide all the files necessary for the formatting of their article in the most interoperable formats possible, in order to facilitate the work of the editors.

In order to encourage the free circulation of scientific knowledge, authors are strongly encouraged to accept the publication by Comptes Rendus of these source files (.docx, .tex, etc.), together with the editorialized files. The dissemination of figures, in particular, especially when made available in an interoperable format and in high quality resolution, is a strong commitment to more open and robust science.

 

Underlying Data

Research data includes all "materials in digital form, other than scientific publications, that are collected or produced in the course of scientific research activities and used as evidence in the research process, or that are commonly accepted by the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings and results" (source: EU Directive 2019/1024).

Authors wishing to publish in Comptes Rendus are encouraged to make all data related to the research work they describe in their manuscripts, and in particular the data directly underlying the submitted articles, freely available.

To do so, Comptes Rendus strongly recommends that authors deposit their data in repositories, i.e. databases specifically dedicated to the permanent preservation, enrichment and valorization of the materials they host. Datasets deposited in repositories are scientific productions that can be cited (in particular when they have a permanent identifier such as DOI), in the same way as a traditional publication.

It is recommended that authors release their data without embargo or after the shortest possible delay, in a way that allows their reuse, with an explicit link between the data and the underlying publication (reciprocal mention of the DOI). The journal encourages the provision of data under open licenses that allow their free reuse. Authors must use the licenses recommended by the repository where the data were deposited.

Reviewers of submitted articles may at any time request from authors the data underlying the results described. Failure to provide this data will result in the rejection of the submission.

NB: Research data should be as open as possible, but as closed as necessary. Authors are invited to inquire about any intellectual or industrial property issues, or personnal data protection issues that may arise with their data. The Academy of Sciences and the editorial team of Comptes Rendus cannot be held responsible for any failure to respect the rights associated with the exploitation or dissemination of the data underlying the articles published by the journal.

 

 

Data Repositories

To select a trusted repository appropriate for your data type or disciplinary area, consult the re3data directory, then check that the chosen repository meets quality criteria.

Avoid repositories with at least one of the following characteristics:

  • No moderation of submissions (e.g., Zenodo, a multidisciplinary data repository supported by CERN and the European Commission): this can lead to poorly described or incomplete data submissions;
  • No persistent identifiers (such as DOIs) assigned to data;
  • No guarantee of infrastructure sustainability: a five-year horizon is a minimum;
  • Obligation to transfer data rights to the repository owner (e.g., the American Chemical Society repository, which does not specify its policy on data reuse licensing);
  • Excessive pricing policy, particularly for small deposits: if you have large volumes of data (> 50 GB) to deposit, it is likely that your affiliated institutions will be able to cover the associated costs;
  • Data storage outside the European Union (if your affiliated institution is in EU): this practice is prohibited for certain types of data (health data, data from surveys that allow individuals to be identified, etc.).

 

Additional resources for French-speaking authors or authors affiliated with a French organization

 

Special requirements for crystallographic data

The above recommendations concern all the data underlying the articles submitted to Comptes Rendus. Among these, manuscripts reporting crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction must include a list of the principal bond lengths and angles. ORTEP drawings (except stereochemical diagrams) are also required (but may be placed in the supporting information if other software is used to prepare the structure view that appears in the text).

Before submitting a manuscript to Comptes Rendus Chimie, the correspondence author must have obtained the Checkcif report for each structure (free online Checkcif service provided by the International Union of Crystallography).

They should then deposit the crystal structure(s) in .cif format with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) in Cambridge, UK, for structures containing at least one carbon atom, with the Fachinformationszentrum (FIZ) in Karlsruhe, Germany, for other structures. Do not submit .cif files with your manuscript, only the PDF of the Checkcif report.

For further information, please contact


Please also include an adapted version of the following paragraph at the end of each relevant article:

"CCDC-*** contains the additional crystallographic data for this article. These data can be obtained free of charge from the [insert name and contact information of the depository institution and CSD accession number(s) here]."

In addition to the CCDC and FIZ mentioned above, you can find examples of trusted data warehouses in chemistry on the DATACC project website [in French].

 

 

Supplementary material

Authors who wish to publish in Comptes Rendus may attach to the full text of their submission additional files or supplementary material that is independent of the body of the article but essential to its immediate understanding. As this material must undergo peer review at the same time as the manuscript itself, each file must be uploaded to our editorial software and clearly labeled “Supplementary Material” at the time of submission. To ensure that your material is directly usable, please make sure that each file does not exceed 50 MB.

For reasons of technical constraints, promotion, preservation, and reuse, however, authors are strongly encouraged to deposit this additional material in dedicated repositories rather than publishing it as an appendix to articles.

 

Any doubts or questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact the editorial secretary of the Comptes Rendus series to which you wish to submit a manuscript, or justine.fabre@academie-sciences.fr.

 

Additional resources: