MFRI´s Data Policy

Data policy of the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute

Framework

The purpose of the data policy of the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute of Iceland (MFRI) is to enforce its vision for the future, which includes a shared understanding of the institute data availability and usage. The data policy covers monitoring and research data separately.

• Monitoring data refers to biological and environmental data collected routinely by the MFRI.

• Research data refers to data which do not fall under monitoring data and might have been collected with or without the support of external fundings (e.g. research grants, contracts etc.).

• In this policy, “data”refers to scientific data in digital form, i.e. metadata, raw data orprocessed data.

Access and sharing of monitoring data

• The MFRI is working towards improving direct access to its data through the development of its own user-friendly interface to retrieve and visualize data, or by using available open access international depositories (ICES, SeaDataNet, PANGAEA, GEOSS etc.).

• Monitoring data are publicly available, but the MFRI usually need to process these data before they are made available to external parties. The data are made available as soon as possible.

• When data are not yet publicly available, external parties can submit a request for specific data via data@hafogvatn.is. If the request requires significant work or processing by the institute’s employees, charges may be levied based on the amount of work involved.

Access and sharing of research data

• External parties can have access to research data upon request if a collaborative framework is envisioned or for other use if agreed upon.

• Research data shall be made available after their predicted exploitation by the scientists at MFRI.

• Previous agreements can limit the distribution of research data.

• Sharing of research data to a third party and the period of the collaborative effort shall be discussed and agreed upon.

Utilization of Data for publication

• The MFRI follows the standard Vancouver convention criteria for credit as authorship (see related documents) which suggests authorship when:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

• All parties involved in “data” sharing shall be given opportunities to participate in the bullet points mentioned above.

• All data shared by the MFRI and used by external parties should be referred to in the acknowledgement using its specific reference number if MFRI does not wish to participate in further exploitation of the data.

Ownership

• Data collected by the MFRI itself are the property of the institute.

• When data are collected by the MFRI for external buyers/collaborators, a signed contract on ownership and use of the data will be made for each case.

• All data collected by the MFRI are stored in the institutes’ databases.

Terms of usage

• The terms of usage for research data should be agreed upon within the collaborative framework.

• Routinely collected monitoring data are open access and external parties are free to work and adapt the data as they wish but must provide credit to MFRI. In addition, parties should indicate if changes were made to the original data.

• Parties have sole responsibility for correct and appropriate monitoring data usage and interpretation.

• Conclusions drawn by parties from the monitoring data do not result in MFRI endorsement.

• If any errors are found inthe monitoring data, parties are requested to inform MFRI.

• External parties may not apply any legal terms to monitoring data provided by MFRI, even if data have been changed or processed.

• External parties may not sell or resell the monitoring data provided by MFRI.

• The MFRI will not make confidential data or data with legal restrictions accessible.

Intellectual Property Rights

The sharing of data between the different parties should not confer any Intellectual Property Rights.

Consent and policy review

The director of the MFRI, together with the executive board, reviews and approves the data policy before it is made publicly available. The data policy will be reviewed every three years or more frequently, if necessary.

Related documents

Act on Marine and Freshwater Research Institute (no. 112/2015)

Freedom of information laws (no. 31, 140/2012)

Act on Infrastructure for Digital Spatial Data (no. 44/2011)

The Vancouver Convention can be viewed at http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf