Publish metadata and report data availability

Use this page when you are preparing a manuscript or planning publication of metadata for submitted data. It explains how public metadata is published, when EGA accession numbers become available, and how to report data availability at different stages of a submission.

Publish public metadata

Before you click the Finalize button in the FEGA Sweden Submitter Portal, contact the FEGA Sweden Helpdesk to review your metadata. This makes it easier to give feedback and for you to make any needed changes before the metadata are sent to the Helpdesk for formal review.

Once a submission is finalised in the Submitter Portal, the EGA Study Accession ID and EGA Dataset Accession ID become available. The FEGA Sweden Helpdesk publishes the public metadata on the date agreed with you.

If you would like to change the agreed publication date, contact the FEGA Sweden Helpdesk. Once published, the metadata can be found through the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA).

Publication of public metadata does not make sensitive data files openly available. Access remains controlled and is granted only after an access request has been reviewed and approved according to the applicable access conditions.

Use EGA accession numbers

Use EGA Study Accession IDs and EGA Dataset Accession IDs to cite or refer to submitted data in manuscripts. You can use accession numbers while public metadata is still on hold, but other researchers cannot request access through EGA until the public metadata has been published.

If you need accession numbers for a manuscript or journal deadline, mention this in your submission request or contact the FEGA Sweden Helpdesk.

Data availability statements

Many scientific journals request authors to include a data availability statement (also called a data accessibility statement) in submitted articles. The statement should explain where the data can be found and how access can be requested.

For sensitive human research data, the statement should make clear that the data are not openly available if they require controlled access. Adapt the wording to your journal’s requirements, the approved access policy, and the status of your FEGA Sweden submission.

If public metadata is published in EGA

Use this wording only after the public metadata has been published in the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) and the study has been assigned an EGA Study Accession ID. An EGA Study Accession ID alone is not enough if the public metadata is still on hold (embargoed).

The controlled-access data generated in this study have been submitted to FEGA Sweden and can be found through the European Genome-phenome Archive web portal (https://ega-archive.org, study accession number: {insert EGA Study Accession ID}). Access requests are reviewed by the relevant Data Access Committee. If access is approved, use of the data is governed by the applicable access conditions and, where used, a Data Access Agreement.

If your submission is still in progress or metadata is embargoed

If your FEGA Sweden submission is not complete in time for publication, or if the public metadata is still on hold, avoid wording that implies that the data are already available through FEGA Sweden. Instead, describe the access limitation and point readers to a public record if one is available.

One option is to create a public record in SciLifeLab Data Repository and refer to that record in the statement. You can read more about this approach in the SciLifeLab Research Data Management Guidelines.

For that situation, a statement could look like this:

The data presented in this paper contain sensitive information and cannot be shared openly. Submission of the data to FEGA Sweden has been initiated. FEGA Sweden is part of the Federated European Genome-phenome Archive (FEGA), which supports sharing of sensitive human research data under controlled access. Information about the datasets included in this study is available at SciLifeLab Data Repository, DOI {insert DOI}.