CHABLIS Data Protocol

The aims of the Data Protocol are

• to encourage rapid dissemination of scientific results from CHABLIS;
• to protect the rights of the individual scientists funded in the CHABLIS consortium;
• to have all the involved researchers treated equitably;
• to ensure the quality of the data in the CHABLIS data archive.

These aims conflict at times, and it is hoped that the provisions of the protocol resolve these conflicts fairly. It is recognised that this cannot always be achieved to everyone's complete satisfaction; there are bound to be cases where individual interests clash with those of the CHABLIS programme. Therefore to try to meet these aims, all PIs and Co-Is involved in CHABLIS must agree to abide by the following conditions:

1. CHABLIS data and model results produced during the programme will be made available to all CHABLIS participants, and to CHABLIS participants only, during a restricted access period ending 2 years after the concerned project end date (28th Feb 2006), after which data and model results will be released to the public domain. At an investigator's request, access may be extended to personally authorised collaborators. If a third-party collaborator wishes to seek access to the database, they must seek the permission of the main PI, Dr. Anna Jones.
2. The designated CHABLIS data centre is the BADC.
3. The longevity of validated raw data must be ensured in a secure archive, if possible at the designated data centres. Details pertaining to the validated raw data (i.e. metadata), whether or not archived at BADC, must be sent to the BADC, as well as information on how to access the data.
4. When relevant, preliminary data should be made available to CHABLIS collaborators as soon as possible. Any corrections or amendments to the preliminary data should be announced as soon as possible.
5. Validated processed data (i.e. data sets in their final form) must be archived at the designated CHABLIS data centre. Archival must take place no later than 15th December 2005 for experimental data.
6. Results of model studies feeding other CHABLIS projects or using data acquired during CHABLIS can be made available via the BADC.
7. Data submitted to the BADC must be in the data format agreed between CHABLIS investigators and the BADC (Nasa Ames). All agreed metadata describing data, models and model results, regardless of their archival location, must be supplied to the BADC. Format and metadata are documented at BADC.
8. It is each investigators responsibility to ensure that the data used in publications are the best available at that time.
9. If measurements or model results from other research groups within CHABLIS are used in a publication by a CHABLIS participant, joint authorship must be offered. This does not necessarily have to be accepted, particularly in cases where due credit and acknowledgement can be given in other, possibly more appropriate, ways.
10. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain (see Clause 1), each investigator has the right to refuse to allow his/her work, whether measurement or calculation, to be used in a publication or presentation prior to the PI's own publication of that work.
11. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain, no data should be transferred to a third party without the originator's consent.
12. In the event of dispute, a scientific steering committee will be set up consisting of the CHABLIS PIs, who will then make a final decision.