Scientific Data Policy Statements
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The statements that follow express the
policies of a number of organizations on data issues. Most of these are related in some
way to the environmental sciences, where international sharing of data on a global scale
is essential to progress in research.
If you know of other policies or have further
relevant information, please notify ferris@udel.edu |
Executive Council Resolution, June 1990:
- Requests members to reaffirm their commitment to the "free and unrestricted
international exchange of basic meteorological data and products" among national
meteorological services.
WMO Congress, Resolution, June, 1995:
The Congress,
Adopts the following policy:
- As a fundamental principle of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and in
consonance with the expanding requirements for its scientific and technical expertise, WMO
commits itself to broadening and enhancing the free and unrestricted* international
exchange of meteorological and related data and products;
Adopts the following practice:
- Members shall provide on a free and unrestricted basis essential data and products which
are necessary for the provision of services in support of the protection of life and
property and the well-being of all nations, particularly those basic data and products,
as, at a minimum, described in Annex I to this resolution, required to describe and
forecast accurately weather and climate, and support WMO Programs;
- Members should also provide the additional data and products which are required to
sustain WMO Programs at the global, regional, and national levels and, further, as agreed,
to assist other Members in the provision of meteorological services in their countries.
While increasing the volume of data and products available to all Members by providing
these additional data and products, it is understood that WMO Members may be justified in
placing conditions on their re-export for commercial purposes outside of the receiving
country or group of countries forming a single economic group, for reasons such as
national laws or costs of production;
- Members should provide to the research and education communities, for their
noncommercial activities, free and unrestricted access to all data and products exchanged
under the auspices of WMO with the understanding that their commercial activities are
subject to the same conditions identified in Adopts (2) above;
Urges Members to:
- Strengthen their commitment to the free and unrestricted exchange of meteorological and
related data and products;
- Increase the volume of data and products exchanged to meet the needs of WMO Programs;
- Assist other Members, to the extent possible, and as agreed, by providing additional
data and products in support of time-sensitive operations regarding severe weather
warnings;
- Strengthen their commitments to the WMO and ICSU WDCs in their collection and supply of
meteorological and related data and products on a free and unrestricted basis;
- Implement the practice on the international exchange of meteorological and related data
and products, as described in Adopts (1) to (3) above;
- Make known to all Members, through the WMO Secretariat, those meteorological and related
data and products which have conditions related to their re-export for commercial purposes
outside of the receiving country or group of countries forming a single economic group;
- Make their best efforts to ensure that the conditions which have been applied by the
originator of additional data and products are made known to initial and subsequent
recipients;
- *"Free and unrestricted" means non-discriminatory and without charge.
"Without charge", in the context of this resolution, means at no more than the
cost of reproduction and delivery, without charge for the data and products themselves.
Principles Governing Access to Data Held in WMO World Data
Centres (WDCs)
The overall purpose of these principles is to facilitate
the full, open and prompt availability of quality assured data.
They were prepared in consonance with the goals of the relevant WMO Programmes,
and the WMO policy on international data exchange, as set out in Resolution 40 (Cg_XII) -
WMO policy and practice for the exchange of meteorological and related data
and products including guidelines on relationships in commercial
meteorological activities.
1.
WMO World Data Centres (WDCs) are coordinated through the relevant WMO
bodies. The Centres themselves
are established, organized, supported and managed entirely within national and
international entities, as their contribution to the relevant WMO Programmes.
2.
WMO Members have a common ownership of the data held in the WMO WDCs.
3.
WMO WDCs should provide data on a free and unrestricted basis, at the
lowest possible cost which should be no more than the cost of reproduction and
distribution. No charge will
be made for the data themselves.
4.
WMO WDCs shall not accept in their holdings data for which there are
restrictions for free and open access.
5.
Members participating in the relevant WMO Programmes are urged to
endeavor to submit data to the relevant WMO WDCs as promptly as possible in
accordance with the procedures defined by the Centres.
6.
Procedures and criteria for data reporting to the WMO WDCs should be
developed by each of the Centres.
7.
Data archives of WMO WDCs must include readily accessible and
comprehensive information describing the datasets, including quality
assessments.
8.
WMO WDCs should, to the greatest extent possible, use media as well as
processing and communication systems which are compatible with internationally
accepted standards and protocols.
9.
Long-term preservation of all data submitted to the WMO WDCs should be
ensured.
Resolution I.9 (from the First Session of the IOC Assembly):
Recommends that all oceanographic data taken by ships and recording
stations outside territorial waters within the limits of declared national
programmes be exchanged under the headings listed and by the methods
prescribed in the IGY data centre manual...
Recommends to member countries the establishment of national
oceanographic data centres in order to facilitate the collection, processing,
analysis, and exchange of oceanographic data;
Data Management Policy for Global Ocean Programs, adopted March 1993:
The overall purpose of this policy statement is to facilitate full and open access to
quality ocean data for global ocean research programs. The Global Ocean Program to be
carried out under GOOS (Global Ocean Observing System) requires an early and continuing
commitment to the establishment, maintenance, validation, description, accessibility and
distribution of high-quality, long-term data sets.
- Full and open sharing of a wide spectrum of global international data sets for all ocean
programs is a fundamental objective.
- Data submitted for international exchange should be provided at the lowest possible cost
to global ocean researchers in the interest of full and open access to data. This cost
should, as a first principle, be no more than the marginal cost of processing, copying and
shipping to fill a specific user request.
- Preferably, all data should be made available in the public domain of IODE
[International Organization for Data Exchange] data centers within one year of collection
(chemical, biological and geological data may require longer intervals). For those global
ocean programs in which selected principal investigators have initial periods of exclusive
data use, data should be made available as soon as they become widely useful or at the
maximum two years after data collection.
- Preservation of data needed for long-term global ocean programs is required. For each
and every global ocean data parameter, there should be at least one explicitly designated
archive.
- International data archives must include easily accessible information about the data
holdings, including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance
and aids for locating and obtaining the data.
National and international standards should be used to the greatest extent possible
for media and for processing and communication of global oceanographic data sets.
Statement on the Climate Agenda, adopted at the Intergovernmental Meeting, April 1993:
- ...the WCP (World Climate Program) and the associated activities have:
--established concerted efforts to obtain and preserve data from the atmosphere, ocean and
land surface, together with a co-ordinated international framework for the standardization
and full and open exchange of such data (...).
Terms of Reference Amendment, November 1990:
- Members must have a continuing activity in space-borne Earth observations (...) and
provide non-discriminatory and full access to data which will be made available to the
international community.
Resolution, December 1992:
...Recognizing the common goal of providing data to global change researchers from all
missions on a consistent basis reflecting primarily the cost of fulfilling the user
request; recognizing also that the constraints of the mission operations and of available
resources may require different mechanisms for data exchange/sharing to be found for
different programs:
CEOS members endorse the following principles relating to data exchange in support of
global change/climate and environmental research and agree to work toward implementing
them to the fullest extent possible (...).
- preservation of all data needed for long-term global change/climate and environmental
research and monitoring is required;
- data archives should contain easily accessible information about the data holdings,
including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for
locating and obtaining the data;
- international standards, including those generated by the CEOS Working Group on Data,
should be used to the greatest extent possible for recording/storage media and for
processing and communication of data sets;
- maximizing the use of satellite data is a fundamental objective. An exchange/sharing
mechanism among CEOS members is an essential first step;
- non-discriminatory access to satellite data by all users for global change/climate and
environmental research and monitoring is essential. This should be achieved within the
framework of the exchange and sharing mechanisms set up by CEOS members;
- programs should have no exclusive period of data use. Where the need to provide
validated data is recognized, any initial period of exclusive data use should be limited
and explicitly defined. The goal should be release of data in some preliminary form within
three months after the start of routine data acquisition;
- criteria and priorities for data acquisition, archiving, and purging should be
harmonized.
IEOS Data Exchange Principles, July, 1996,
The Data Exchange Principles establish the basis on which
the Agencies listed below will share the data from the International Earth
Observing System (IEOS) among themselves and make such data available to other
users. The Agencies are: the European Space Agency (ESA) along with the
European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT);
the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along
with the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA);
the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (STA) along with the National Space
Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), the Ministry of International Trade and
Industry of Japan (MITI), the Japan Environment Agency (JEA), and the Japan
Meteorological Agency (JMA); and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The IEOS is currently composed of the following platforms
and their corresponding Earth Observation instruments which are listed in the
IEOS Implementation Plan: the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS), beginning
with EOS AM1; the ENVISAT-1 element of the ESA Polar Orbit Earth Observation
Mission (POEM) programme; the NOAA Polar orbiting Operational Environmental
Satellites (POES), beginning with NOAA N; the Japanese Earth Observing System
(JEOS) beginning with the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS); and the
NASA/Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The IEOS Agencies
will endeavour to include future Earth Observation missions, as appropriate,
within the IEOS framework, including application of these Data Exchange
Principles.
The following Principles address the criteria of access
and utilisation of data from the above platforms. Modalities of implementation
will be agreed by the parties in the IEOS Implementation Plan. Detailed Terms
and Conditions for the practical execution of these Principles will be
documented in the IEOS Implementation Plan and agreed by the Agencies. The
definitions attached to these Data Exchange Principles are an integral part of
them, and will be referred to for the correct implementation of all
arrangements and cooperative activities carried out in the IEOS.
1. All IEOS Data will be available for peaceful purposes
to all users on a non discriminatory basis and in a timely manner.
2. There will be no period of exclusive data use. Where
the need to provide validated data is recognised, any initial period of
exclusive data use should be limited and explicitly defined. The goal should
be release of data in some preliminary form within three months after the
start of routine reception of instrument data.
3. All IEOS Data will be available for the use of each of
the Agencies and its designated users at the lowest possible cost for
non-commercial use in the following categories: Research, Applications, and
Operational Use for the Public Benefit.
4. Agencies which designate users for Research Use and
for Applications Use will do so through an Announcement of Opportunity or
similar process. The designation will include a definition of the data to be
provided. Research Users shall be required to submit their results for
publication in the scientific literature and Applications Users shall be
required to publish their results in a technical report and both shall be
required to provide their results to the designating Agency and to the Data
Providing Agency.
5. Any of the Agencies may designate national users of
the respective countries or Member States of the Agencies as it deems
appropriate to be given access to all IEOS data at the lowest possible cost
for Non commercial Operational Use for the Public Benefit, provided the
designating Agency assumes responsibility for ensuring that all the terms and
conditions for data use are met. This use will have to be reported to the Data
Providing Agency on the basis of commonly agreed criteria including type,
usage, and final destination of the data. Designation of users outside the
national territory of the Agencies or their member states (eg., international
organisations and agencies in non-participating countries) for Non-commercial
Operational Use for the Public Benefit will be done only with the agreement of
the Data Providing Agency.
6. For purposes other than 3 above, the specified data
will be made available in accordance with terms and conditions to be
established by the Data Providing Agency.
7. Each Data Providing Agency will fulfil the data
requests of the other Agencies and their designated users to the maximum
extent possible. In the event that these data requests exceed the Data
Providing Agency's capacity, the Data Providing Agency and the designating
Agency will pursue alternative arrangements to fulfil such requests.
8. All data required by the Agencies and their designated
users will be made available on condition that the recipient agrees to
applicable intellectual property rights terms and conditions and/or
proprietary rights consistent with these Data Exchange Principles, and ensures
that the data shall not be distributed to non designated parties, nor used in
ways other than those for which the data were provided, without the written
consent of the Data Providing Agency.
9. Any of the Agencies may delegate some of its functions
to other entities; in which case, such Agency will remain responsible for
ensuring compliance with these Data Exchange Principles.
10. Agencies will harmonise criteria and priorities for
data acquisition, archiving, and purging, in consultation with other relevant
organisations.
The following Definitions apply in the context of these
Principles:
Applications Use of data is a limited proof
of concept study toward:
1) the solution of an applied program to demonstrate the
utility of the data; or
2) the demonstration of the operational use of the data.
Data refers to original Earth observation sensor
output and higher level products created from it by the Data Providing Agency
as part of the standard set of products.
Data Providing Agency is the Agency which has
primary responsibility for the distribution of data from a particular
instrument or is the owner of such data. The Data Providing Agency will be
defined in agreements between the operator of the platform carrying the
instrument and the instrument provider should the two be different
organisations.
Lowest Possible Cost for designated users is no
more than the additional cost of resources, above the cost of the normal
planned data system operations, required to fill a specific user request.
These costs may include media, labour, expenses for operating and maintaining
equipment, as well as delivery charges for mail or electronic transmission.
The above costs should not include non recurring costs such as research,
development, and space segment capital cost. However, it may include a
reasonable amount towards additional capital cost of data provision.
Non commercial Use is the utilisation of data to
provide a service for the public benefit as distinguished from conferring an
economic advantage on a particular user or group of users.
Non commercial Operational Use for the Public Benefit
is the utilisation of data to provide a regular service for the public benefit
as distinguished from conferring an economic advantage on a particular user or
group of users. An example is the use of data to carry out a mandate of
environmental observation and prediction. These activities can be carried out
by national or international agencies or other entities designated by these
agencies to support their public benefit mandate. Such a user may be requested
by the Data Providing Agency and/or the designating Agency to provide a
periodic status report back to them.
Non discriminatory Basis means that all users in a
clearly defined data use category can obtain data on the same terms and
conditions, and the categories are defined in such a way that all potential
users will be included in categories with access to the data.
Research Use of data is utilisation of data in a
study or investigation which aims to establish facts or principles.
July 1990:
We recognize the importance of coordinating and sharing the collection of satellite
data on earth and its atmosphere. We welcome and encourage the ongoing discussions for the
establishment of an International Network.
Ministerial Communiqué, January 1991:
OECD governments should strengthen their efforts to support and encourage the
international science community to assess environmental risks to human health and natural
ecosystems, and to promote a full and open exchange of environmental data and information.
Establishing Agreement, May 1992:
Article II, Objectives:
- The Institute shall pursue the principles of scientific excellence, international
co-operation, and of full and open exchange of scientific information, relevant to global
change. In order to do so, the objectives of the Institute are to:
(...)
c) foster standardization, collection, analysis and exchange of data relative to global
change" (...).
Article IX, Institute Research Centers:
- 3. The Institute Research Centers shall, inter alia :
(...)
b) collect data and promote the full, open, and efficient exchange of data and information
between the Institute and the Parties" (...)."
June 1992:
Chapter 31: The Scientific and Technological Community
A. Improving communication and cooperation among the scientific and technological
community and decision makers and the public
Basis for action:
- 31.2 The scientific and technological community and policy makers should increase their
interaction in order to implement strategies for sustainable development on the basis of
the best available knowledge. This implies that decision makers should provide the
necessary framework for rigorous research and for full and open communication of the
findings of the scientific and technological community, and develop with it ways in which
research results and the concerns stemming from the findings can be communicated to
decision-making bodies so as to better link scientific and technical knowledge with
strategic policy and program formulation (...)
Activities:
- 31.4 Governments should undertake the following activities:
(...)
- e) To improve and strengthen programs for disseminating research results of universities
and research institutions (...). This requires full and open sharing of data and
information among scientists and decision makers.
- Chapter 35: Science for Sustainable Development
D. Building up scientific capacity and capability
Activities:
- 35.22 The following activities should be undertaken:
(...)
c) Develop and expand national scientific and technological databases, processing data
in unified formats and systems, and allowing full and open access to the depository
libraries of regional scientific and technological information networks. Promote
submission of scientific and technological information and databases to global or regional
data centers and network systems;
(...)
- e) Develop, strengthen and forge new partnerships among national, regional and global
capacities to promote the full and open exchange of scientific and technological data and
information and to facilitate technical assistance related to environmentally sound and
sustainable development. This should be done through the development of mechanisms for the
sharing of basic research, data and information, and the improvement and development of
international networks and centers, including regional linking with national scientific
databases, for research, training and monitoring. Such mechanisms should be designed so as
to enhance professional cooperation among scientists in all countries and to establish
strong national and regional alliances between industry and research institutions (...).
June 1992
Article 4: Commitments
- All Parties, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and
their specific national and regional development priorities, objectives and circumstances,
shall:
- (...)
g) Promote and cooperate in scientific, technological, technical, socio-economic and
other research, systematic observation and development of data archives related to the
climate system and intended to further the understanding and to reduce or eliminate the
remaining uncertainties regarding the causes, effects, magnitude and timing of climate
change and regarding the economic and social consequences of various response strategies;
h) Promote and cooperate in the full, open and prompt exchange of relevant scientific,
technological, technical, socio-economic and legal information related to the climate
change, and to the economic and social consequences of various response strategies (...).
November 1998
Decision 14, Conference of Parties
The Conference of Parties,
(...)
2. Urges Parties to undertake free and unrestricted exchange of data to
meet the needs of the Convention, recognizing the various policies on data
exchange of relevant international and intergovernmental organizations...
General Assembly Resolution, 1999:
Noting that in the course of the monitoring activities set up following the last General Assembly, ICSU Press, CODATA, ICSTI, COSTED, and SCFCS*
have noted threats to the free flow of scientific data and information inherent in the developing national and international legislative
framework for intellectual property;
Calls on national members to take appropriate steps to ensure that their governments and legislators are aware of the needs of research and
education when new national and international laws are being framed in the areas of intellectual property, copyright, and related
rights.
*CODATA = Committee on Data for Science and Technology
ICSTI = International Council for Scientific and Technical Information
COSTED = Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries
SCFCS = Standing Committee on Freedom in the Conduct of Science
General Assembly Resolution, 1988:
Noting that:
- the success of international co-operative programmes in science depends on an
unprecedented sharing of scientific data and information;
- ICSU has a long-standing commitment to the free circulation of scientists and access to
scientific data and information; and
- processes of data and information handling and dissemination are rapidly becoming
technically more sophisticated and potentially more expensive for those who provide and
use there services;
Recommends all ICSU members to support the fundamental principle of open exchange of
data and information for scientific purposes by strongly urging public and private
organisations in all countries to facilitate access to scientific information and data
needed to address the research objectives of ICSU programmes; and
Further recommends that the Executive Board establish a mechanism to monitor the
implementation of his principle and take action on problems that may arise.
General Assembly Resolution, 1996:
Noting that there may be constraints on the free flow of scientific data and
information, imposed on grounds of national security, confidentiality, commercial value,
copyright, or historical disciplinary practice;
Recommends as a general policy the fundamental principle of full and open exchange of
data and information for scientific and educational purposes.
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.
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.
Policy on data access, January 1993:
- The Joint Scientific and Technical Committee of GCOS has begun to discuss and formulate
its data policy. The following points will be important considerations in such a policy:
- Global environmental concerns, as reflected in the recommendations agreed at the UNCED,
are an overriding justification for ensuring the unrestricted international exchange of
GCOS data for non-commercial scientific and applications purposes.
- The GCOS requires an early and continuing commitment by participating national
governments and international bodies to the establishment, maintenance, validation,
description, accessibility, and distribution of high-quality, long-term data.
- The sharing and exchange of GCOS data is a fundamental objective. Data should be
provided at the lowest possible cost to users.
- Preservation of all data needed for GCOS is required; suitable archive facilities should
be ensured for all GCOS data; procedures and criteria for setting priorities for data
acquisition, retention, and purging should be developed and implemented by participating
nations and international bodies; an international clearinghouse process should be
established to prevent the purging and loss of important data.
- To the maximum extent possible, data archives must include easily accessible information
about the data holdings, including long-term quality assessments, supporting ancillary
information, and guidance and aids for locating and obtaining the data.
- International standards should be used as far as possible to acquire, process, and
distribute global data.
- For those data relevant to GCOS in which selected investigators or organizations have
initial periods of exclusive data use, data should be made available as soon as
possible."
Scientific and Technical Statement, November 1990:
- High priority must be placed on the provision and international exchange of
high-quality, long-term data for climate-related studies. Data should be available at no
more than the cost of reproduction and distribution. A full and open exchange of global
and other data sets needed for climate-related studies is required.
SCOSTEP Bureau Resolution, 1994:
Noting
The long-standing policy of open and unrestricted access to basic scientific data at
costs not to exceed the costs of copying and distribution, initiated under the auspices of
the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) for the International Geophysical
Year (IGY 1957/58) and implemented through ICSU’s charge to the World Data Centers
(WDC) that were created to preserve and disseminate IGY and post-IGY data;
And Considering
The tremendous success of this open and unrestricted scientific data policy in
promoting international scientific cooperation and advancing scientific knowledge, as well
as the immeasurable benefit to the countries which have contributed to its implementation
by ensuring an uninterrupted flow of key environmental data to government agencies and the
private sector;
The SCOSTEP,
While recognizing that economic pressures may place severe restrictions on many
governmental institutes,
Expresses Its Deep Concern about the recent policies of some national bodies attempting
to recover the costs of operating arrays of environmental monitoring sensors and of
generating data products useful for scientific research, thus interrupting the routine
data collection and exchange in some disciplines of direct concern to SCOSTEP,
Reaffirms its strong support of ICSU’s policy of free and uninhibited exchange of
solar, interplanetary, geophysical and meteorological data, without which the present and
future worldwide cooperative studies would be severely impaired, especially in the Third
World countries; and
Urges ICSU and the SCOSTEP member countries to do their utmost to help arrest and
reverse any changes in data policy that are detrimental to cooperative research among the
world scientific community.
General Assembly Social Science Data Management Policy, Paris, 1994:
- The International Social Science Council calls upon . . . all ISSC Member Associations
and Member Organizations of the ISSC, to join in an early and continuing commitment to the
establishment, maintenance, validation, description, accessibility, and distribution of
high-quality, long-term datasets in all of the social sciences. Specifically,
- Full and open sharing of the full suite of datasets for all social scientists is a
fundamental goal.
(. . .)
- Data should be provided at the lowest possible cost to the greatest extent possible to
researchers in the interest of full and open access to data. This cost should, as a first
principle, be no more than the marginal cost of filling a specific user request. Agencies
should act to streamline administrative arrangements for exchanging data among
researchers.
- For those programs in which selected principal investigators have initial periods of
exclusive data use, data should be made openly available as soon as they become widely
useful, as soon as possible. Funding agencies should explicitly define the duration of any
exclusive use period, and in any case not later that one year following the end of the
grant period. While the rights of scholars to publish from their data must be protected, a
guideline period of one year from data collection to availability will in most cases give
such protection and good cause should be given for embargo beyond one year; a shorter
period of exclusive rights would be commendable.
- The rights of privacy of the individual must be protected, and nothing done either in
the original investigation or in the transference of data to other researchers which would
in any way compromise the rights of the individual. national laws regarding
privacy/confidentiality of data must be respected and developed.
- The rights of access to data collected in developing countries should be given to
researchers indigenous to those countries at least simultaneously with publication, at
minimum cost, and if possible as soon as the data are available to the original
researchers. Researchers in developing countries have a right to data collected in their
countries. This should be provided by electronic means wherever possible.
- All researchers should strive to maximize access and use of data for which they are
responsible as originators, fenders, archivists, editors and users.
Resolution on free access to environmental data, General Assembly, Kyoto, Japan, 1993
URSI,
Aware of the idea growing in some quarters to consider environmental data as a market
commodity, recognizing that such consideration could be acceptable when data are to be
used for a commercial purpose,
Urges agencies that archive those data to warrant the access to environmental
information for scientific purpose free of charge or at marginal cost.
Data Policy And Practices, accepted by the WOCE Scientific Steering Group (SSG) in May
1990.
- There is a fundamental trade-off in WOCE—on the one hand, the protection of the
intellectual effort and time of originating investigators (those who plan an experiment,
collect, calibrate, and process a data set to answer some questions about the ocean), and
on the other hand the need to compare various data sets and data types to check their
consistency, to better understand the ocean processes involved, and to see how well the
numerical models describe the real ocean. The policy below is a trade-off between these
conflicting needs.
Any data collected as part of WOCE should be made publicly available
no later than 2 years (the publication-rights period) from collection, unless specifically
waived by the SSG and funding agencies.
Data Management for Global Change Research Policy Statements, July 1991:
- The overall purpose of these policy statements is to facilitate full and open access to
quality data for global change research. They were prepared in consonance with the goal of
the U.S. Global Change Research Program and represent the U.S. Government’s position
on the access to global change research data.
- The Global Change Research Program requires an early and continuing commitment to the
establishment, maintenance, validation, description, accessibility, and distribution of
high-quality, long-term data sets.
- Full and open sharing of the full suite of global data sets for all global change
researchers is a fundamental objective.
- Preservation of all data needed for long-term global change research is required. For
each and every global change data parameter, there should be at least one explicitly
designated archive. Procedures and criteria for setting priorities for data acquisition,
retention, and purging should be developed by participating agencies, both nationally and
internationally. A clearinghouse process should be established to prevent the purging and
loss of important data sets.
- Data archives must include easily accessible information about the data holdings,
including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance and aids for
locating and obtaining the data.
- National and international standards should be used to the greatest extent possible for
media and for processing and communication of global data sets.
- Data should be provided at the lowest possible cost to global change researchers in the
interest of full and open access to data. This cost should, as a first principle, be no
more than the marginal cost of filling a specific user request. Agencies should act to
streamline administrative arrangements for exchanging data among researchers.
- For those programs in which selected principal investigators have initial periods of
exclusive data use, data should be made openly available as soon as they become widely
useful. In each case, the funding agency should explicitly define the duration of any
exclusive use period.
Data Policy Plan, established by USGS and NOAA, October, 1994
As required by P.L. 102-555, this Data Policy Plan is designed to achieve the
following:
- Ensure that unenhanced data are available to all users at the cost of fulfilling user
requests;
- Ensure timely and dependable delivery of unenhanced data to the full spectrum of
civilian, national security, commercial, and foreign users and the National Satellite Land
Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA);
- Ensure that the United States retains ownership of all unenhanced data generated by
Landsat 7;
- Support the development of the commercial market for remote sensing data;
- Ensure that the provision of commercial value-added services based on remote sensing
data remains exclusively the function of the private sector; and To the extent possible,
ensure that the data distribution system for Landsat 7 is compatible with the Earth
Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).
The fundamental concept in the Landsat 7 data distribution policy is non-exclusivity.
¼ Access to Level OR data will be provided on a non-discriminatory basis to any requester
within the technical limitations of the system. Although the USG retains ownership and all
rights to the Level OR data, there will be no restrictions imposed by the USG on
subsequent use, sale, or redistribution of data from Landsat 7.
Consistent with P.L. 102-555, Landsat data will be provided to all requesters on a
non-discriminatory basis at the "cost of fulfilling user requests" (COFUR).
COFUR is defined in P.L. 102-555 as "the incremental costs associated with providing
product generation, reproduction, and distribution of unenhanced data in response to user
requests and shall not include any acquisition, amortization, or depreciation of capital
assets originally paid for by the United States Government or other costs not specifically
attributable to fulfilling user requests."
Statement on the Free International Exchange of Meteorological Data, 1995:
- We believe that the free and open exchange of basic meteorological observations by all
countries is essential to maintaining and improving the quality of meteorological and
climatological services throughout the world. The long-standing policy of free exchange of
data is an outstanding example of international cooperation for the benefit of all.
Therefore, we strongly support the principle of free and open exchange of meteorological
data and oppose attempts to place restrictions on this exchange.
Policy Statement, 1997:
The importance of archiving and availability of geophysical data
Earth and space data must be collected and analyzed to understand the elements of our
natural environment, how they interact, and how they change over time. AGU supports and
encourages the full and open sharing of Earth and space science data for research and
education. Such sharing enhances advancement of scientific and technical knowledge for
education, economic advancement, public safety, and national and international security.
Since measurements of geophysical quantities cannot in general be repeated, Earth and
space data should be preserved, documented, and archived for future generations.
AGU extends this policy to data and derived products acquired with both public and
private funding. AGU recognizes that there are constraints on the full and open exchange
of data based on national security, commercial value, confidentiality, and historical
disciplinary practice. When such data are not initially made public, they should be made
available to the public as early as possible.
The responsibilities for implementing an effective data policy must be shared. The cost
of collecting, processing, validating, and submitting data to an archive should be
considered an integral part of research and operational programs. Governments and
intergovernmental organizations have a responsibility to collate, archive, and distribute
Earth and space data, and they should make it easy for users to identify and access
datasets of interest. Toward greater ease of use, data archives should be complemented by
adequate documentation of their holdings and by directories. Because datasets are often
used for purposes other than those for which they were collected, documentation of data is
as important as the data themselves. Of course, scientists and others acquiring Earth and
space data also play an integral role in data preservation. They are responsible for
promptly submitting data and documentation of their quality and conditions of their
collection to a recognized data center. The marginal cost of data dissemination is a
legitimate charge to the user.
Earth and space data are a national, and in many cases, an international resource.
These data, properly documented and archived, will help future generations understand the
system that comprises the Earth's interior, atmosphere, oceans, biosphere, and space
environment.
- This list of policy statements began as a CODATA Report:
Report on ICSU Activities in Data and Information, ICSU Ad Hoc Committee on Data
Issues, CODATA, August, 1993.
- The collection of statements was then extended by the Megascience Forum:
Scientific Data Management Policy Statements, Appendix II in: Global Change of Planet
Earth, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, 1994.
- Next, the collection was reproduced by the U.S. National Research Council:
On the full and open
exchange of scientific data, Committee on Geophysical and Environmental Data, National
Research Council, Washington, DC, 1995.
- Finally, the NRC set of statements was expanded by the ICSU/CODATA ad-hoc Group on Data and
Information to form the above set.
- We would be pleased to hear of other scientific data policy statements.
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22 February, 2002