“Available upon reasonable request”: A case study of the open data culture in three language learning journals

This chapter examined data sharing culture by reviewing all papers published between September 2022 and January 2024 in three top applied linguistics journals: The Journal of Second Language Writing (SLW; n = 91), Language Learning (LL; n = 131) and Studies in Second Language Acquisition (SLA; n=80). All three journals require the disclosure of data-sharing practices when papers are submitted. LL and SLA allow authors to obtain a badge by sharing their data, while SLW requires authors to indicate data availability with a statement. We found that 44.74% (n = 34) of authors in LL and 28.75% in SLA shared their data, but only 3.85% (n = 2) of authors in SLW did so. We argue journals with the badge system have a higher proportion of articles sharing their data, so journals should promote it and encourage authors to participate. Copyright © 2025 by Lee McCallum, Dara Tafazoli, and Ali H.