NACP Investigators' Data Sharing Expectations and Opportunities

1. Expectations and Opportunities for NACP Investigators to Share and Discover Data Peter Griffith and Megan McGroddy 4th NACP All Investigators Meeting February 3, 2013

5. Definition of an NACP Core Project               Projects funded as extramural awards and designated as part of the NACP at the time of selection and award. These projects address the goals and objectives of the NACP and contribute relevant research products within the timeframe of the program. Selection or award letters explain expected NACP participation. Projects funded as extramural awards and designated as part of the NACP subsequent to the award being made. Agency program leads and the project PI determine that an effort is relevant to the NACP and that the project will contribute relevant research products within the timeframe of the program. Program managers and project investigators reach a mutual understanding regarding whether a project should participate in NACP, and program managers document that participation by correspondence with the PI or investigator team.

6. Projects funded through intramural mechanisms to conduct NACP research or to provide specific measurements, datasets, or other products for NACP. PIs or primary contacts will be identified for each major project or task, and titles and abstracts will be developed, allowing these tasks to be tracked in a manner similar to projects funded through extramural mechanisms. In consultation with task leaders and their managers, agency program leads will document commitments to NACP through appropriate correspondence. Standing agency activities, including those that may have another primary mission, that agency program leads commit to participate in NACP or to provide specific measurements, data sets, or other products. PIs or primary contacts will be identified for each major project or task, and titles and abstracts will be developed, allowing these tasks to be tracked in a manner similar to projects funded through extramural mechanisms. In consultation with the project or task leaders and their managers, agency program leads will document commitments to NACP through appropriate correspondence. 

7. Definition of NACP Affiliated Projects  Agency program leads may request that research investigations, research projects, or operational programs or projects with core missions and goals different from those of the NACP cooperate in some way with the NACP. Such cooperation might involve provision of specialized data sets or performance of specific services (e.g., satellite data acquisition/processing; computer time and support; access to research aircraft; etc.). The agency program lead will document a mutual agreement with the project lead and funding sponsor(s) as to the nature and scope of the cooperation. The cooperating project will be expected to follow applicable NACP policies and practices for the activities within the scope of the agreement and consistent with their own operating policies. Individual researchers conducting relevant research may request to affiliate with the NACP for a variety of reasons. To be eligible, investigators must demonstrate the relevance of their research to NACP, agree to follow applicable NACP policies and practices, and secure their funding sponsor’s agreement to the affiliation..

8. Responsibilities of NACP Participants PIs, co-investigators, and project managers of NACP core projects are expected to participate fully in the program, including attendance at program meetings, service on working groups, coordination with other NACP projects, sharing data and results in accordance with NACP policies, and collaboration on synthesis and integration research. They are expected to acknowledge program participation in relevant presentations, on posters, and in publications. Participants in NACP affiliated projects are expected to interact with the NACP and participate commensurate with the scope of their agreed-upon involvement. At a minimum, attendance at some meetings and compliance with data policies applicable to their agreed-upon involvement may be expected. It is anticipated that most affiliated project investigators will participate as fully as possible, consistent with the resources they are able to use for NACP involvement.

9. NACP Data Policy For the purposes of this Policy, the term "NACP data" shall mean the primary observations, monitoring data, site characterization information, model output, remotely sensed products, and ancillary data specifically supported by U.S. agencies to meet the goals outlined in the NACP Science Implementation Strategic Plan. Data Archiving NACP metadata and data products, including value-added products and model input and output generated by the program, need to be archived when the data sets are finalized or at the completion of NACP. …A data archive plan developed early in NACP will ensure survival, integrity, long-term stewardship, and access to NACP data and metadata. Long-term data archives must include easily accessible information about the data holdings, including quality assessments, version of the data or model input and output, supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data.

10. Sharing Data Full, open, and timely sharing of the full suite of North American data sets for all NACP researchers is a fundamental objective. All data and associated metadata are to be made available to every NACP investigator as soon as feasible but no later than 12 months after acquisition. For those programs in which selected Pis have a period of exclusive data use longer than 12 months, data must be made openly available as soon after that period as possible. In each case, the agency sponsoring the data collection will explicitly define the duration of any exclusive use period. Data will be analyzed cooperatively by all scientists involved in obtaining them. In addition, NACP data will be made available in preliminary form to NACP investigators to enable preliminary analysis and intercomparison with other data sets. Corrections and refinements to data products will be made as the analysis proceeds. Revisions will be noted, and investigators and the NACP data system will maintain version control.

11. Credit to Data Collectors When data are used by others in publications or in modeling or integrating studies during the course of NACP, the scientist collecting the data will be credited appropriately, either by co-authorship, citation, or acknowledgement. For data that have not been published, the data originators must be informed of analysis and publication plans well in advance of submission of a paper, given an opportunity to read the manuscript, and, if appropriate, be offered co-authorship. In cases where unpublished data from other investigators are a minor contribution to a paper, the data are to be referenced by a citation or acknowledgement. Users of the data must state the primary source of the data as well as the version number.

12. Protecting the rights of students Universities require that key data collected by graduate students should not be published prior to submitting a thesis or dissertation because to do so can jeopardize the student’s academic interests. As a result, data collected specifically for a student’s thesis or dissertation are not subject to the data sharing obligations of this policy until after the student has completed their degree. This special consideration will be limited to 2 years after data collection for a masters student and 3 years after collection for a doctoral candidate. Acknowledging NACP NACP investigators will include an acknowledgement in each publication or presentation arising from participation in NACP. The wording shall be similar to the following: “This study was part of the North American Carbon Program.” Data providers and funding agencies may request additional acknowledgements. Upon publication of results, investigators should send the NACP Office an electronic copy of the publication.