Agreement for the use of CPR data

  1. Our Data Philosophy:

1.1 The CPR Survey has an open and transparent approach to data availability, data requests and data citation.

1.2 The CPR Survey believes that its plankton observation, ancillary datasets and associated metadata should be freely available to collaborating researchers conducting research into global change and environmental science. Increasing the number of scientists that can access and work with CPR Survey datasets will accelerate the progress of marine ecological science and enhance the societal benefit derived from CPR Survey data.

1.3 Tracking CPR Survey data use by the research community is crucial in order to demonstrate value for money and secure sustained funding for the Foundation.

1.4 As a result the CPR Survey encourages regulated access and data use through range of collaborative opportunities between external researchers and staff scientists in order to accelerate scientific progress.

  1. Our Commitment:

2.1 The CPR Survey will identify those data and products which are to be stored in view of potential future use. Such identification to be carried to ensure maximum consistency and that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent loss of key data.

2.2 The CPR Survey will retain those data and products so identified in a form, which makes them accessible and useable.

2.3 The CPR Survey will participate in relevant activities involved in data provision, development of standards and quality assurance and of techniques, hardware and software required for the storage and manipulation of data.

2.4 The CPR Survey will make available data to research and education communities for bona fide use in non-commercial activities on terms which recover the cost of extraction, handling and transmission. All other conditions, usually associated with a commercial transaction such as restrictions on further dissemination, will remain valid and form part of any agreement to supply.

2.5 The CPR Survey will implement reciprocal agreements with other agencies where mutual benefit may result. Such agreements may allow access to data free of charge. Such reciprocal arrangements will be audited from time to time to ensure that reciprocity is being maintained.

2.6 The CPR Survey will continually develop the design of the CPR Survey database and its accessibility interfaces in line with best practice identified by the Ocean Observation community and its requirements for data collection, quality control, processing, and information technology infrastructure.

  1. Data Availability:

3.1 Access to CPR data is free for individual, non-grant funded, non-commercial researchers collaborating on plankton ecology and related domains with CPR Survey staff scientists.

3.2 By default, there is a two year embargo period on the CPR Survey data. Additional embargo periods, associated with contractual obligations, may apply and the CPR Survey will communicate these to request originators on a case-by-case basis.

3.3 Freely accessible data products will be made available on the CPR Survey website, with the number and scope of these products developed over time.

3.4 Requests for data will be submitted via the Data Request Form available on the CPR Survey website as per ยง4.1.

3.5 Requests for access to significant proportions of the CPR Survey data archive will only be granted to scientists coming to work on site at the CPR Survey. This is to enable briefing about the interpretation of the data and ready access to staff expertise in analysing and visualising CPR Survey data sets.

3.6 The CPR Survey expects request originators to build collaboration with staff scientists, and a staff collaborator will be assigned to a data request unless the submitted data request indicates that a member of CPR Survey staff is already collaborating with the request originator.

3.7 The CPR Survey does not charge for small, non-commercial data requests. For larger, more complex requests, or requests from grant funded projects or consortia, the CPR Survey expects that a collaboration will have be developed in advance of the data request and that the time and expertise of CPR Survey staff associated with serving the request and advising on data analysis and interpretation will be funded through the project or consortia grant.

3.8 Requests for data from commercial entities will incur access charges and the involvement of CPR Survey expert staff for data interpretation. Data and sample access costs for commercial use will reflect administrative, computational and interpretive expertise required to deliver the request. The cost of this service will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis by the CPR Survey with the request originator.

  1. Data Request Process:

4.1 The process to request access to the CPR Survey data is as follows:

i. Enquiries for access to CPR data should be made via the Data Request Form available on the CPR Survey website;

ii. Within one week of submission the Data Manager will contact the request originator to clarify the request and/or provide a Data Licence Agreement for signature before the request is processed;

iii. Data will be extracted and the Dataset specified in the Data Licence Agreement will be produced by the CPR Survey Data Product Team;

iv. A custom Digital Object Identifier will be minted and a copy of the Dataset archived by the CPR Survey.

4.2 The CPR Survey will regularly publish a list of data requests to illustrate which organisations are using CPR Survey data and where the funding to support these requests comes from. These lists will be disseminated through the CPR Survey website.

4.3 If the CPR Survey receives data requests for similar purposes from different institutions, from different groups within an institution or which align with active research work being carried out by CPR Survey staff, the CPR Survey will make all request originators aware of the situation and broker collaborations between all parties.

  1. Data Licence

5.1 Access to CPR Survey data requires all request originators to agree, sign and abide by the terms and conditions of the CPR Survey Data Licence Agreement.

  1. Data Citation & Reporting

6.1 Datasets are provided with an embedded CPR Survey attribution, suggested citation and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which must be used to acknowledge the Dataset as specified in the Data Licence Agreement.

6.2 The CPR Survey requires individuals in possession of Survey data to report to the Foundation, for the lifetime of the Data Licence Agreement, on the use of the data, its inclusion into data products and dissemination through publication.

6.3 The CPR Survey expects that co-authorship will be offered to CPR Survey staff scientists in response to their active collaboration on projects requiring the use of CPR Survey data products.

  1. Data Destruction

7.1 The CPR Survey data licence grants permissions for users to work on a specified CPR Survey Dataset for a limited period of time. At the expiry of this permission, the original and all copies of the dataset must be destroyed.

7.2 The CPR Survey will archive the datasets created from the original request so that the Dataset can be re-requested at any time.

7.3 After the expiry of the Data Licence Agreement the DOI and associated URL must be used to refer to the Dataset.

7.4 You may not keep a copy of the Dataset beyond the Date of Termination specified in the Data Licence Agreement.

  1. Collaborative Opportunities

8.1 The CPR Survey proactively encourages active collaboration between external scientists, commercial entities and internal staff scientists.

8.2 To initiate collaboration, please make informal enquiries directly to the CPR Survey staff scientists or express an interest in the Marine Biological Association (MBA) Associated Researcher scheme.

  1. Policy Review

9.1 The CPR Survey Data Policy will be annually reviewed by internal panel. The application of the Data Policy will be at the discretion of the Director and, if deemed necessary, in consultation with the Board of Trustees.