UFAM Data Protocol

The aims of the Data Protocol are: These aims conflict at times, and it is hoped that the provisions of this protocol will resolve these conflicts fairly. It is recognised that this cannot always be achieved to everyone's complete satisfaction. There are likely to be cases where individual interests clash with those of UFAM. Therefore to try to meet these aims, all PIs, Co-Is and Instrument Scientists involved in UFAM must agree to abide by the following conditions:
  1. UFAM data produced under the auspices of a NERC Thematic Programme will be subject to the Data Protocol of that programme.
  2. UFAM data and model results produced during campaigns and projects will be made available to all relevant participants, and to those participants only, during a restricted access period ending one year after the concerned project end date, 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.
  3. The designated data centre for UFAM-derived data is the BADC.
  4. The longevity of validated raw data must be ensured in a secure archive, possibly, but not necessarily at the BADC. 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.
  5. Preliminary datasets will normally be made available to other UFAM collaborators as soon as possible (usually via the Collaborative workspaces on CAST?, hosted by the BADC). Any corrections or amendments to the preliminary data should be announced as soon as possible.
  6. Validated processed data (i.e. datasets in their final form) must be archived at the designated UFAM data centre with the required metadata. A data submission date should be arranged by the data providers and the BADC. Archival should take place no later than this agreed date.
  7. Results of model studies feeding or accompanying UFAM campaign/project data analysis can be made available via the BADC.
  8. Data produced outside of the auspices of NERC programmes and campaigns should be provided to the BADC where possible. Data access restrictions may be stipulated by the data owner on such occasions.
  9. Data submitted to the BADC must be in the data format agreed between UFAM investigators and the BADC (NetCDF (following the CF convention) preferred, NASA Ames also accepted). 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.
  10. It is the responsibility of UFAM Instrument Scientists to provide data, metadata and appropriate documentation to the BADC for all campaigns, projects and routine measurements.
  11. It is the responsibility of each Investigator to ensure that the data used in publications are the best available at that time.
  12. If measurements or model results from other UFAM-related research is used in a publication by a UFAM project 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.
  13. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain (see Clause 2), 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 Principal Investigator’s own publication of that work.
  14. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain, no data should be transferred to a third party without the originator’s consent.
  15. In the event of dispute, a scientific steering committee will be set up consisting of the UFAM Lead Scientists and/or the Principal Investigators of the specific campaign or project, who will make a final decision.

FAAM Conditions of Use

Data providers must be acknowledged in any publication using FAAM core data or any documentation supporting an application based on FAAM core data.

Extra COPS Condition

When the data are public domain, any use of the data should include either acknowledgement, citation or offer co-authorship, at the discretion of the investigator who collected the data.