OP3 Data Protocol

The aims of the OP3 Data Protocol are:

• to encourage rapid dissemination of scientific results from the OP3 consortium project;
• to maximize the exploitation of OP3 scientific results by encouraging joint publications;
• to protect the rights of individual scientists in the OP3 consortium;
• to ensure all participating researchers are treated equitably;
• to ensure the quality of the data in the OP3 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 OP3 project. Therefore to try to meet these aims, all PIs and Co-Is involved in OP3 must agree to abide by the following conditions:

1. OP3 data and model results produced during the project will be made available to all OP3 participants, and to OP3 participants only, during a restricted access period ending 2 years after the project end date of September 2010 (i.e. September 2012), after which data and model results will be released to the public domain. At an investigators 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 OP3 project data coordinator, Dr Rob MacKenzie.
2. The designated OP3 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 OP3 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 OP3 data centre. Archival must take place no later than 28th February 2009 for experimental data.
6. Results of model studies feeding other OP3 projects or using data acquired during OP3 can be made available via the BADC.
7. Data submitted to the BADC must be in the data format agreed between OP3 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 OP3 are used in a publication by a OP3 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. An example of where authorship may not be accepted is where an average daily concentration for a given species is quoted, where as full authorship may be required if a full time series is shown.
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 originators consent.
12. In the event of dispute, the OP3 scientific steering committee will then make a final decision.
13. Core FAAM data comes under the FAAM data protocol http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/data/faam/faam-data-protocol.html.