NEPTUNE Canada

Context

The NEPTUNE Canada has developed from a growing recognition that the interactivity of earth, ocean and atmospheric processes, most of which operate across wide ranges of space and time scales, cannot be resolved without coordinated, continuous observations by many disciplines. The NEPTUNE Canada infrastructure and observing systems will provide the technological means for making these observations. Transforming these observations into an integrated understanding of the connectivity of earth and ocean dynamics will require an unprecedented level of cooperation between disciplines and individual scientists. This could involve the traditional approach to inter-disciplinary research – collaborations between colleagues constructed around specific problems and hypotheses. Indeed, this will basis for the development of the first experiments to be deployed on the network, and it will likely continue to be a key element the NEPTUNE research effort. However, the flow of data from the NEPTUNE instruments will be such that single investigators and groups of researchers will be unable to process and interpret all incoming information to its full potential, or in many cases, to even a fraction of its full potential.

In order to accelerate utilization of the NEPTUNE data archive, and so hasten the pace of discovery, NEPTUNE Canada is developing a data access policy aimed at engaging a larger community in the research effort and creating an unprecedented culture of collaboration. The data access policy will make information from instruments deployed on this publicly-funded network available to the entire global research community, and to the general public, in real or near-real time via the Internet, to the maximum extent possible. NEPTUNE Canada must also reconcile this goal with the interests and intellectual property rights of investigators who conceive experiments, secure funding and deploy instruments on the seafloor. In developing the data access policy, we must also take into account the cost and complexity of controlling on-line access to data. The following document explores issues that will become key elements of the NEPTUNE Canada data policy. For some issues, we present draft policy guidelines, for others, we offer alternative points of view that are still being debated. For the present, the document limits itself to scientific use of observational data. Data access for educational and for-profit purposes will be examined in a later paper.

What do we mean by 'access to data'?

In the context of ocean observatories where data are available on-line, different degrees of access to data and associated meta-data need to be considered. NEPTUNE Canada presently recognizes four levels of data access:

1. on-line viewing of data and data products
2. restricted downloading of data sets and data products
3. unrestricted downloading of data sets, and
4. exploitation of data in scientific publications, education and for-profit enterprises.

Why control access to data?

Just as copyright laws were adopted to “Promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their inventions and discoveries” (see US Constitution, Art. I. Sec. 8, Cl. 8), ocean observatory projects can view control of access to data as a tool for advancing science. This is the point of view from which NEPTUNE Canada is developing its data access policy. Ocean observatory projects can use data access policy to encourage experimenters to conceive experiments and develop instruments that produce high-quality observations, and the policy can also be used to engage a larger community in the discovery process.

Balancing experimenter and data user interests

Motivating and maintaining experimenter input requires recognition of their contribution by third party users of instrument data. The data access policy must therefore provide mechanisms for encouraging third parties to recognize and collaborate with experimenters. At the same time, encouraging third party participation in the project will require some relaxation of traditional views and practices of data ownership that are common in the ocean science community. One ultimate end-point for access to data is that of complete freedom for any individual to acquire and use data from any NEPTUNE instrument without restriction, for any purpose. This would achieve the objective of involving a larger community in the exploitation of the NEPTUNE data, and may very well encourage collaborations. However, such a policy would tend to disenfranchise the creative community of researchers developing instruments and conceiving experiments, and so undermine the viability of the entire project. In a scenario of unlimited program resources, it might be possible to develop and implement a complex formula for data access that considered most individual experimenter and data user needs. However, in a finite funding world, science is better served by allocating far more resources to data acquisition and archiving, than to management of an elaborate data access policy.

NEPTUNE Canada general data access policy

NEPTUNE Canada is developing a data access policy that places few formal restrictions on access to data. This emphasis on free and open use of data is also one of the guiding principles of the data policy being developed for the OOI ocean observatory network in the US. Instead of data moratoria and access rules, NEPTUNE Canada will encourage the development of research etiquette and rely on self-policing by the research community. Experimenter contributions will be recognized by the explicit encouragement of co-authorships involving experimenters and data users, and, in exceptional cases, by permitting experimenters to retain exclusive rights to download data for a period of 90 days following collection (exclusivity subject to annual review). All data will be available for on-line viewing, as data files or data products, in real time or near-real time. Otherwise, the NEPTUNE Canada Access to Observations policy will permit unrestricted use of NEPTUNE data by all categories of users, including:

1. Investigators and laboratories directly responsible for the instrument(s) producing the data
2. Other investigators maintaining instruments on the network
3. Independent third party scientists who have not contributed instruments or observational tools to the project
4. Government agencies
5. Not-for-profit educators
6. For-profit enterprises - still under discussion. The near impossibility of controlling for-profit use of downloaded data sways us to encourage rather than discourage this type of exploitation. For-profit enterprises could very well provide a valuable service to investigators by the creation of data products. Even the NEPTUNE project itself could generate revenue by offering researchers derived data products that would facilitate their interpretation and accelerate publication of results.
7. The general public

Operational guidelines for data access

Verification period

While NEPTUNE Canada will try to ensure the most rapid delivery possible of all data to the Internet, they are to be considered preliminary and subject to verification and possible correction, nominally for a period of two years after the date of collection. It will be the responsibility of experimenters to ensure within the two-year period that the data collected by experiments with which they have been associated are corrected, if necessary, and reported promptly to the Data Management and Archive System (DMAS) facility of NEPTUNE Canada. Data fields will indicate whether data are preliminary or corrected.

NEPTUNE Canada responsibilities for data quality

NEPTUNE Canada will bear no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the interpretations or conclusions reached by researchers associated with the NEPTUNE Canada program based on data collected by instruments on the network. NEPTUNE Canada will, however, make every effort to ensure that the data themselves are as accurate and complete as possible.

Experimenter rights and responsibilities

Instrument configuration

Experimenters or team of experimenters funded to purchase or develop individual instruments will have priority rights to determining the positioning of their instrument(s) in the experimental area, and the default configuration of observation protocols. They will also have the right to request reconfiguration of observation protocols, provided that that reconfiguration does not interfere with the objectives of on-going community experiments

Data quality

The Experimenters or team of experimenters must ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that data released to the public are accurate, complete and accompanied by a clear, detailed statement of research protocols and any other information that would be required by a subsequent user of the information (metadata). Researchers will be required to follow NEPTUNE Canada metadata protocols.

Data identification

Metadata will identify the Experimenters or team of experimenters responsible for the collection of each type of data. Other on-line information on NEPTUNE experiments will also identify experimenters.

User registration

Access to NEPTUNE data sites, while free of charge, will require users to register so that use of NEPTUNE data can be monitored. Annual renewal of registration will be conditional and require satisfactory completion of a yearly report on use of NEPTUNE Canada data for purposes such as conference presentations, publications, theses and dissertations, public outreach, education and in other electronic and printed formats, and for commercial purposes.

Identification of active users

Browsing and downloading of data from the DMAS facility will be monitored automatically and reported monthly to NEPTUNE Canada. Downloading of data will automatically identify active users of data from individual instruments. This information will be linked to the data and will be available to other users of the DMAS facility in order to facilitate collaboration among researchers. Active user status for individual instruments or instrument packages will be renewed annually during renewal of registration.

Access to samples and sample analyses

This Access to Observations Policy does not extend to samples collected by instruments not directly connected to the NEPTUNE Canada network; e.g., samples obtained during cruises to, say, retrieve NEPTUNE Canada samples. Any analyses (e.g. chemical, physical, taxonomic) of such samples, however, are considered to be covered by this Access to Observations Policy and must be reported to NEPTUNE Canada and be made available for dissemination via the Internet within two months of the analyses being undertaken. Exceptions to this two-month period must be requested in writing, by the investigator to NEPTUNE Canada within 30 days of the sample collection and must be well-justified; NEPTUNE Canada holds the right to refuse such a request if it feels that it has not been adequately justified. Investigators are required to make available to NEPTUNE Canada, within 60 days of collection, a complete listing of samples obtained, including such information as sample type, unique identifier (which will remain with samples and subsamples throughout analysis), investigator, instrument type, volume, time of collection, geographic position (lat., long., depth), repository, and any other information necessary to fully characterize the collection. At this time they must also outline plans for the analysis of the samples, which should be within one year. If the samples have not been analysed by the time of the yearly review of registration of the PI, access may be withheld until analysis is complete. All other relevant terms of the data policy apply to sample analysis data; when analytical data are submitted to NEPTUNE Canada for posting, researchers are required to indicate how much sample material remains.

NEPTUNE Canada will not act as a repository for samples nor will it assume curatorial responsibility with respect to dissemination of samples to other interested researchers after collection. Sample requests from other researchers should be submitted first to NEPTUNE Canada as a proposal on a form provided on the NEPTUNE Canada website; these proposals will be screened internally within NEPTUNE Canada (for example, there may be insufficient sample material) and, if approved, will be forwarded to the NEPTUNE Canada Science Committee which will determine which, if there are competing proposals, should be approved. The request to provide sample material to the successful proponent will be forwarded to the researcher responsible for the sample collection and archiving. The researcher who holds the material must respond to NEPTUNE Canada within 60 days of the request indicating the action taken in fulfilling the request or specifying reasons for refusing the request. Failure of a NEPTUNE researcher to comply with these terms of the data policy may result in withdrawal of access to the NEPTUNE facility.

This Access to Observations Policy does not extend to samples collected by instruments not directly connected to the NEPTUNE network; e.g., samples obtained during cruises to, say, retrieve NEPTUNE samples but obtained through other shipborne activities such as water or sediment sampling from a surface vessel or submersible.

On-line viewing

NEPTUNE Canada personnel will work with individual researchers to develop on-line viewing tools for different types of data. Where possible, data will be made available in real-time or near-real-time for presentation in graphic form or statistical summaries. All data and data products will be identified as to the responsible experimenter or team of experimenters.

Download ethical prompt

Users downloading data from the DMAS facility will be explicitly reminded of their ethical obligation to contact the responsible experimenter prior to publication and, where appropriate, to offer co-authorship.

Acknowledgments and Data Citations

NEPTUNE Canada and specific research teams must be acknowledged or cited by third parties making use of NEPTUNE Canada data. Suggested data citation format.