Data Usage Agreement
Data access is granted by the authors of the data and the University of California for the purposes of:
- Guiding management decisions
- Aiding synthesis of data to improve management recommendations and to improve our scientific understanding of ecological processes.
These data use policies are similar to many other data-sharing sites, and are critical to promote data sharing by:
-
Encouraging contribution of data by ensuring that data authors/owners
have the 1st right to publish findings based on their own data. This is
particularly critical for authors willing to share data from on-going and
long-term studies.
-
Encouraging contributions of compiled data (e.g. for meta-analysis or
synthesis projects), by giving the data compiler 1st right to publish syntheses
based on their compilations.
-
Ensuring that collaboration in data analysis occurs, to minimize data
being misinterpreted by those not familiar with the studies that make up the
dataset.
Contributing data:
Contributing data requires creation of a personal account.
By creating this personal account, you are expected to comply with all of the
terms of data entry and use. If you require expanded permissions, contact the
datatbase PI.
- By contributing data, the data authors verify the veracity of the data,
and that they have the authority to post the data (e.g. permission from the
project lead, permission from land owners to post project location, etc.).
- All data contributed by a given author is fully controlled by that
author, and can be removed from the database at any time at the author's
request. Of course, there are no restrictions on the author's use of their own
data that is contributed to the database (terms of data use, below, only apply
to data that is not one's own).
- All datasets include the data contributors' and/or authors' contact
information. The data authors/contributors can opt to make this information
public, or to keep it private. If contact information is private, the
assumption is that the authors/contributors give permission for others to use
their data.
- If the database team has concerns/questions about your data, we will
notify you and will not post the data publically until all concerns are
resolved.
Access to data
Access to data requires creation of a personal account. By
creating this personal account, you are expected to comply with all of the
terms of data use. Currently, downloads of individual projects are enabled. To
access a bulk download across projects, contact the database PI, with all of
the necessary permissions from data owners (see Data permissions and
co-authorship, below).
Use of data
There are no restrictions on informal use of the database (e.g.,
looking across case studies out of curiosity, or to inform a particular
management decision).
Any data analyses and their products (publications, reports,
presentations, etc.) must comply with the data use and data permissions and
co-authorship guidelines, below.
- Data use
- It is expected
that all data analyses will be conducted with scientific integrity, and are not
using biased data selection/analysis practices which result in misleading
conclusions.
- Under no
circumstances will any private data be shared (data marked private by
contributors is solely for database administration and for the GIS model to
identify local soil types, etc.)
- If any data irregularities are detected, notify the database team immediately.
- This database does
not permit reanalysis of an author's studies. That can only occur with explicit
permission from the data author.
- Data from this database cannot be used in a for-profit activity.
- Data permissions and co-authorship
- For the
purposes of this database, the following definitions are used:
- Data author
- The
author/ coauthors of any study are identified by their inclusion in the
"Contacts" section of each project in the database under the
following designations: "Project lead/ coordinator", "Data
Owner"
- Data contributor
- For
those who have done a literature synthesis/ meta-analysis, and have entered
those individual case studies into the database, the "Data compiler"
(as defined in the Contacts section) is considered a data author as well. In
this case, the primary authors (from the original literature) do not need to
give permission for data use, or be asked to be co-authors, UNLESS, across the
dataset used, their individual contribution is at least 8% of the data.
- Without prior approval from the data owners/compilers (see
guidelines below), data from this database cannot be shared or published. Nor
can any summaries or conclusions derived from analysis of data be publically
shared (e.g. in talks, etc.) without approval of the data owners/ compilers
(see co-authorship terms, below)
- If any one author’s
or data contributor's data comprises at least 8% of the dataset analyzed, they
must be invited as a co-author (it is up to their discretion whether they want
to be a co-author or not). This is true for anyone listed in the author list
(they do not have to be first or last author).
- If any one
author’s or data contributor's data comprises 40% or more of the dataset
analyzed, you must ask their permission to use the data for the proposed
purpose, since it is likely they are working on a similar analysis/publication
themselves. If permission is granted to use the data, the expectation is that
the data authors will be invited as co-authors (it is up to their discretion
whether they want to be a co-author or not). This is true for anyone listed in
the author list (they do not have to be first or last author).
- If data is
region specific (e.g. Central Coast, a given County)- permission must be
obtained from local Farm Advisors collecting data in that region, to be sure
you are not replicating efforts that they are leading (see project team list).
- For analyses that
rely on 60% or more of data taken from this database, you must contact the
database PI to be sure a similar effort with the database data isn’t already occurring.
When contacting the database PI, include a short description of the proposed
questions and analyses, a general idea of the data to be used (e.g. any
specifics on focal location, focal management practices, focal ecosystem
services), and the purpose of the study (e.g. for publication, for a management
guide, etc.).
- Once you have
been granted permission for data use, this permission only applies to the
specific questions/analyses approved in your proposal. Access to any data does
not imply permission for future use of the data for additional purposes. For
any new questions addressed with the data, permission must be granted by the
data authors or database leaders.
- Co-authorship terms (see guidelines for who is a co-author, above)
- When drafts of
products (papers, reports, talks, etc.) are sent to invited authors, they are
expected to have 6 weeks to make comments on/approve the product, its
analytical methods, and interpretation of the conclusions. This is true for
each revision sent.
- It is important
to realize that different datasets have different "ownership", and different
regulations on authorship (e.g. universities and agencies may have different
policies). In some cases, all products using the data will have to be screened
by a given agency prior to publication.
- Data acknowledgement
- Proper
acknowledgement of the database is critical for us to maintain long-term
funding to maintain and expand data access.
- All projects
that use data from the database must acknowledge the database: "Data used in this
(analysis, proposal, etc.) have been obtained from the California Ecosystem
Management Database www.ecosystemmanagement.ucanr.edu"
- In addition to
overall acknowledgement of the database, many publications will require
citation of the individual datasets used. This may occur in the publication, or
in a supplementary section. Following DataONE format, the general format of a
data citation is:
Author (if known).
Date published (if known). Title of the project in the database. California
Ecosystem Management Database www.ecosystemmanagement.ucanr.edu. Retrieved
date.
- An electronic
copy of all materials produced based on the dataset must be sent to the
database PI. These will be listed on the project webpage, and will be listed in
database project funding proposals and reports.
- For educational
uses of the data (e.g. student training, professional training), we request a
brief description of how the data has been used in the curriculum, how many
participants there were in the training, and the target audience.
Disclaimer: The database team makes every
effort to ensure that the data is accurate, but use of this data acknowledges
that the data compilers, data authors, the database management team, and
relevant funding agencies bear no responsibility for data use, interpretation,
or conclusions.
Violations of Terms of Data Use:
By logging into the site and accessing the data, and by use
of the data, users are acknowledging agreement to these terms. If these terms
are violated, sanctions can include:
- Suspension of your user account for database access
- Contacting your employer's offices handling issues of Integrity in
Research/ Scientific Misconduct
- Contacting journals or other outlets for products that violate these
terms, and filing a claim of scientific misconduct against the product.
You must agree to the agreement before registering by checking this box