Journal governance transfer dataset: transfer matrix, acquisition-offer register and paratextual audit of residual certification signalling

Supplementary dataset for a conceptual article introducing the construct of reputational capture of scholarly journals, defined as the process by which a change of journal control enables a successor governance regime to realise economic or strategic value from reputational capital accumulated under a previous regime, while inherited identifiers, metrics, indexation, rankings and community trust continue to signal continuity. The workbook contains ten sheets. Sheet 1 is a matrix of twenty journals publicly named in connection with one identified acquisition network, with five per-field evidence columns and a reproducible overall evidence profile. Sheet 2 records one journal displaying the same conditions without a public link to that network, kept separate so that the inclusion rule is not weakened. Sheet 3 documents eight negative and contrast cases: transparent transfers, disclosed refusals, and community exit followed by reconstitution. Sheet 4 transcribes twenty-three acquisition and manuscript-supply approaches made to a single society journal between December 2021 and June 2026, with approach, thread and entity identifiers, including two approaches carrying named offer values of USD 75,000 and USD 400,000. Sheet 5 reports a paratextual audit of residual certification signalling. Sheet 6 is the authoritative per-field provenance record. Sheet 7 holds the longitudinal data underlying Figure 2 of the article. Sheet 8 is a source manifest with URLs, access dates and capture filenames. Sheet 9 is the codebook. The deposit also includes dated captures of every source that supports at least one field verified at level A, with a manifest and SHA-256 checksums, and the vector figures of the article with the scripts that generate them. Verification is recorded per field, not per record. Level A means verified by the author against a source classified as primary in the manifest, consulted on a stated date and captured at the time of access. Level B means reported by a named, dated third party and not independently re-verified; it is a positive evidential state, distinct from a field marked not verified, and level-B material is attributed as reported wherever it is used. Level C means named in secondary commentary only. No level-A claim in this dataset rests on a source that could not be captured. The dataset supports mechanism discovery and hypothesis generation. It does not support prevalence estimates, because the underlying set of journals was purposively identified after concerns emerged. No individual is named and no intent is imputed to any organisation; entries record publicly documented events and publicly displayed statements only.