services/products

Databoard policies

All of the following items were adopted by PAGES Databoard at its inaugural meeting 4 - 6 March 2002. This list includes planned actions and appoints members to teams that will develop and execute needed activities.

PAGES supports the development and use of rules of good scientific practice (ESF, 2000; Appendix A). These include:

• making data and methods available for reproducibility of results,
• making data behind any published graphic or figure publicly available
• using data ethically, including proper citation

PAGES supports the free and open exchange of data as described by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) (CODATA 2002; Appendix B).

PAGES recommends the establishment of data sharing policies by Funding Agencies and collaboration with Journals. PAGES recommends that Journals require the deposition of data in free and publicly available archives such as ICSU World Data Centers. For an example of a journal policy see Miller (1994, Appendix C), and for funding agency policies see NSF (1994, 1998). PAGES recommends that paleoclimate scientists consider data management needs when reviewing publications and proposals.

The PAGES Data System will work to encourage and facilitate access and exchange of paleoenvironmental data by:

• establishing networks for data management,
• providing tools to facilitate data contribution and improve data utility, and
• increasing data sharing through development of common formats for data and metadata interchange

PAGES recommends that new data management activities should:

• be developed in coordination with existing data management programs and centers
• use existing databases and systems where appropriate
• establish a protocol to define the expected flow of data from scientists, through discipline- or project-based data programs, to long-term archive
• fully document data following established standards for metadata and data

Data management needs resources: PAGES recommends that scientists and funding agencies ensure that sufficient funds are included in project proposals to support management of the data from collection to archives.

PAGES Databoard agrees that all data management centers shall provide metadata using an approved FGDC profile for paleo-metadata (see http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/metadata).

The FGDC standard extensible markup language (XML) will be used for interchange of compliant metadata among data management centers (see http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/metadata).

PAGES will work towards the development of standard formats for data.

PAGES Databoard proposes establishment of a central data portal with the first version to be located at the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD, http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

Age models are essential for the comparison of paleoclimatic records: PAGES Databoard recommends that wherever possible age models be provided in calendar years and that data cooperatives with input from contributors or investigators provide calendar year age for each data point with error bars. Contributors should provide raw measurements, a description of methodology, accuracy and caveats. The PAGES Databoard recommends that a workshop on age models and tools be held in the next year.

Abstand
Literature Cited:
CODATA 2002. Scientific Data Policy Statements. (originated from Report on ICSU Activities in Data and Information, ICSU Ad Hoc Committee on Data Issues, CODATA, August, 1993.) International Council for Science Committee on Data for Science and Technology. http://www.codata.org/data_access/

ESF 2000. Good scientific practice in research and scholarship. European Science Foundation Policy Briefing, December 2000, ISRN ESF-SPB-00-10-FR+ENG. http://www.esf.org/publication/93/ESPB10.pdf
(in particular, see section 27, page 6).

Miller, K.G. 1994. Editorial: Archiving data for Paleoceanography. Paleoceanography 9(3): 389.

NSF. 1994. Policy for Oceanographic Data, NSF 94-126. National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences. http://www.geo.nsf.gov/oce/programs/oceandat.htm

NSF. 1998. Guidelines and Award Conditions for Scientific Data. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1999/opp991/opp991.txt
Appendix B. Data Policies of ICSU World Data Centers (WDC) and IGBP from CODATA (2002) http://www.codata.org/data_access/

ICSU World Data Centers (WDC)
from "Principles and Responsibilities of ICSU World Data Centers", April, 1996

... WDCs will prepare and publish catalogs of their data holdings, or otherwise make freely available information on their holdings, e.g., by electronic access.
WDCs will exchange data among themselves, as mutually agreed and whenever possible without charge, to facilitate data availability, to provide back-up copies, and to aid the preparation of higher order data products.
No confidential or security-classified data are to be held in a WDC.
Data may be subject to privileged use by their originators, for a period to be agreed beforehand, and not to exceed two years from the date of acquisition by the WDC.
WDCs will provide data to scientists in any country free of charge, on an exchange basis or at a cost not to exceed the cost of copying and sending the requested data. Additional charges may be made for special services, or for acquiring data from outside the WDC system.
WDCs will accept any scientist as a visitor to work on site with data holdings held under WDC auspices.


International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP)
Report No. 12, November 1990:

Consequently, IGBP-DIS should have the following characteristics:

• suitable preservation of all data needed for long-term, global change research must be ensured
• data archives must include readily accessible and comprehensive information describing data sets (metadata about the data holdings, including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data)
• national and international agencies with responsibilities for archiving and distributing global change data should, to the greatest extent possible, use media and processing and communications systems which are consistent with internationally accepted standards and protocols
• in those cases in which individual scientists have initial periods of exclusive data use, data should be made openly available as soon as they become widely useful
• data should be provided at the lowest possible cost which, as a first principle, should be no more than the cost of reproduction and distribution