Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research Data Access Policy, Data Access Requirements, and General Data Use Agreement This data policy document is based on the Long Term Environmental Research (LTER) Network data policy approved by the LTER Coordinating Committee April 6, 2005 Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research (MPCER) Data Access Policy The MPCER data policy includes three specific sections designed to express shared network policies regarding the release of MPCER data products, user registration for accessing data, and the licensing agreements specifying the conditions for data use. MPCER Data Release Policy Data and information derived from publicly funded research, totally or partially from MPCER funds from NSF, Institutional Cost-Share, or Partner Agency or Institution where a formal memorandum of understanding with MPCER has been established, are made available online with as few restrictions as possible, on a nondiscriminatory basis. MPCER scientists should make every effort to release data in a timely fashion and with attention to accurate and complete metadata. Data There are two data types: Type I – data are to be released to the general public according to the terms of the general data use agreement (see Section 3 below) within 2 years from collection and no later than the publication of the main findings from the dataset and, Type II - data are to be released to restricted audiences according to terms specified by the owners of the data. Type II data are considered to be exceptional and should be rare in occurrence. The justification for exceptions must be well documented and approved by the lead PI and MPCER Data Manager (Paul Heinrich). Some examples of Type II data restrictions may include: locations of rare or endangered species, data that are covered under prior licensing or copyright (e.g., SPOT satellite data), or covered by the Human Subjects Act. Researchers that make use of Type II Data may be subject to additional restrictions to protect any applicable commercial or confidentiality interests. While the spirit of this document is to promote maximum availability for ecological data in either Type I or II status, there are criteria by which priority for data release may be determined. Primary observations collected for core research activities directly supported by MPCER research must receive the highest priority for data release. Data collected by other sources to which MPCER supported research has added value is also a high priority Other types of data including non-MPCER data that was acquired for MPCER research, student thesis data, schoolyard MPCER data, or legacy data that already suffer from inadequate documentation or format obsolescence may be ranked a lower priority by a site with justifications provided in their data management policy. Finally, some data may be determined of lowest priority for archiving on the grounds that they are interim data that led to final products that carry the scientific value. These might include data files created during stages within an analytic workflow, raw or replicate data values that were subsequently aggregated or processed for release, or individual outputs from stochastic models. Metadata 1. Metadata documenting archived/online data sets of all types listed above will be made available when, or before, the dataset itself is released according to the terms above. 2. All metadata will be publicly available regardless of any restrictions on access to the data. 3. All metadata will follow MPCER recommended standards and will minimally contain adequate information on proper citation, access, contact information, and discovery. Complete information including methods, structure, semantics, and quality control/assurance is expected for most datasets and is strongly encouraged. Whenever possible Federal Geographic Data Committee standard metadata will be used. MPCER Network Data Access Requirements The access to all MPCER data is subject to requirements set forth by this policy document to enable data providers to track usage, evaluate its impact in the community, and confirm users' acceptance of the terms of acceptable use. These requirements are standardized within MPCER to provide contractual exchange of data between Data Providers and Data Users that can be encoded into electronic form and exchanged between computers. This will allow direct access to data via a common portal once these requirements have been fulfilled. The following information may be required directly or by proxy prior to the transference of any data object: Registration 1. Name 2. Affiliation 3. Email Address 4. Full Contact Information • Acceptance of the General Public Use Agreement or Restricted Data Use Agreement, as applicable. • A Statement of Intended Use that is compliant with the above agreements. Such statements may be made submitted explicitly or made implicitly via the data access portal interface. Data providers wishing to impose further requirements beyond these are encouraged to include them in their Restricted Data Use Agreements accompanying the datasets. Data Use Agreements Datasets released by MPCER will be accompanied with a use agreement that specifies the conditions for data use. For Type I data, this shall be the General Data Use Agreement (see appendix I). This document specifies general roles and the obligations and rights enjoyed by each regarding the use of most dataset released for general public use. For Type II datasets, a Restricted Data Use Agreement must be provided with the dataset that identifies the specific restrictions on the use of the data and their justification. Because these are expected to be unique to the dataset, no template is provided although in most cases the General Data Use Agreement can be modified to serve. Grounds for restricting data may include the need to restrict access to species, habitats or cultural resources protected by legislation; rights of privacy granted by human subjects legislation; or protection of intellectual, financial or legal rights over the data held by a third party. This policy becomes effective when approved by the MPCER Executive Committee. It may be revised by, or at the request of, the same body.