Terms of Data Use

Terms of Database Use

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.