Publication policy

If you are writing a paper for which you have used Genomics England data or conducted analyses within the Genomics England Research Environment, please refer to the Genomics England Publication Policy. We will need to review a draft of your manuscript at least 2 weeks in advance of submission to check that correct acknowledgements are present, and the publication is in line with the Publication Policy and our Airlock Policy.

Submit your publication for review: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/publication-review-request-form/

Abstract and poster submissions to a conference need to follow the Genomics England Publication Policy and should be submitted for review prior to submission using the Publication Review Request Form. You can contact the Research Management Team directly with any questions or if you require support with this process at [email protected].

Submit your abstract or poster for review: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/publication-review-request-form/

All communications of research containing or referring to data held in the National Genomic Research Library (NGRL) and based on analyses conducted in the Genomics England Research Environment need to be in line with our Publication Policy and be submitted for review by Genomics England before going into external peer review or being presented. For theses that are prepared as part of a degree programme (e.g. PhD thesis) we accept for these to be submitted at the same time as they are submitted to examiners or peer reviewers, ideally at least 20 days before the viva or final examination of your thesis.

We are here to support you, so please contact the Research Management Team directly with any questions or if you need help with this process at [email protected].

Submit your publication for review: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/publication-review-request-form/

Genomics England can be cited in the following way:

The National Genomic Research Library v5.1, Genomics England. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4530893.v7

All publications must include the following credit information in the main body of the document (e.g. in the acknowledgement or methodology section).

For articles, papers and theses:

This research was made possible through access to data in the National Genomic Research Library, which is managed by Genomics England Limited (a wholly owned company of the Department of Health and Social Care). The National Genomic Research Library holds data provided by patients and collected by the NHS as part of their care and data collected as part of their participation in research. The National Genomic Research Library is funded by the National Institute for Health Research and NHS England. The Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council have also funded research infrastructure.

For abstracts and posters:

This research was made possible through access to data and findings in the National Genomic Research Library via the Genomics England Research Environment.

A data access statement, also known as data availability statement, describes where the data associated with the publication are available, and under what conditions the data can be accessed. It can be included in the acknowledgements or methodology section of your paper or some journals also provide a “data availability” or “data access” section.

It is considered good practice to include a data access statement and increasingly it is becoming a requirement with many funders and scientific journals, as well as being required under the UKRI Common Principles on Data Policy.

We recommend you include the following data access statement in your publication.

Short version of the data access statement:

Research on the de-identified patient data used in this publication can be carried out in the Genomics England Research Environment subject to a collaborative agreement that adheres to patient led governance. All interested readers will be able to access the data in the same manner that the authors accessed the data. For more information about accessing the data, interested readers may contact [email protected] or access the relevant information on the Genomics England website: https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/research.

Full data access statement:

The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the Genomics England Research Environment, a secure workspace. All interested readers will be able to access the data in the same manner that the authors accessed the data.  

To access genomic and clinical data within the Research Environment, researchers must first apply to become a member of either the Genomics England Research Network (academics/healthcare professionals) or the Discovery Forum (industry) via the Genomics England website: https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/research.

The process for joining the Research Network consists of the following steps: 

1. The researcher’s institution will need to sign a Research Network Access Agreement.
2. Once confirmed the institution is registered with Genomics England, the researcher can apply for Research Network membership using the online form.
3. The institution will be asked to validate the researcher’s affiliation with that institution and the application will then be reviewed by Genomics England within 10 working days.
4. The applicant completes online information governance training and will then be granted access to the Research Environment within 2 hours of passing the online training.

Data used or referred to in this publication that are available to registered users within the Research Environment include: [list data used for the purposes of the publication or datasets generated as part of analyses that will be made available for other researchers in the Research Environment, if possible specifying the filepath to facilitate discoverability as long as the filepath description does not contain any participant IDs and or other information is not allowed for export under the Airlock policy.]

Germline variants can be explored in an Interactive Variant Analysis Browser, see description at: https://re-docs.genomicsengland.co.uk/iva_variant/. Further details of the types of data available in the Genomics England Research Environment can be found at: https://re-docs.genomicsengland.co.uk/data_overview/.

Please remember that, as outlined in the Publication Policy, it is a requirement that the manuscript or draft of any publication is sent to Genomics England at least 2 weeks before it is submitted for peer review in whatever format (e.g. paper journal, on-line report, meeting abstract), allowing 10 working days for review and approval for publication by the Genomics England Research Management Team.

The Publication Review Request Form to submit a publication for review can be found here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/publication-review-request-form/

Movement of files into and out of the Research Environment is via the Airlock system and is subject to review by a team at Genomics England. All data that you wish to include in your manuscript or make available to reviewers must be exported via the Airlock process (including any graphs, figures and tables).

Where data that is required for peer review is too sensitive or potentially identifying to be exported through Airlock, we can provide reviewers with expedited time-limited access to a specified folder(s) within the Research Environment for the purpose of peer review. Once the peer review process has been completed and the paper published, reviewers’ access to the Research Environment is removed (unless they happen to already be Research Network members with full Research Environment access). Reviewer anonymity is maintained throughout this process.

You can submit a Service Desk ticket if you would like us to create a folder with restricted access and to let us know which data is required for peer review that you would like to have moved into this folder.

There have been instances where editorial teams felt the data in the Genomics England Research Environment are not sufficiently openly accessible to readers or not readily accessible to reviewers. While we understand the source of such concerns, neither is a valid reason to prevent publication as our processes fully facilitate both data access for researchers and peer review while safeguarding participant data and respecting the consent under which it was provided.

If you run into any issues and would like our support or have questions about the process of giving reviewers access to the Research Environment, please contact [email protected].