Data Resources
Data Dissemination Protocols
Restrictions on Dispersal of Data
All data generated at the Black Rock Forest for the purpose of long-term monitoring or the monitoring of Forest attributes are to be made available to any and all interested parties.
Data gathered by outside researchers may be restricted. Researchers are allowed time to organize, analyze, and publish their data before they become available to the public. Restrictions on data will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Active datasets will only be distributed with the researcher’s permission. Inactive datasets will be allowed the same restrictive privileges for up to two years after the date that data collection ended. After two years, data will be made available to interested users unless the researcher appeals for an extension. Extensions will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis
Specific Guidelines for Data Sharing
Type I Data: Openly Available. This includes data that are routinely gathered at the Black Rock Forest and data that have already been published. Data in this category are unrestricted. These data can be accessed via the web or by making a request to the Network/Data Manager.
Type II Data: Temporarily Restricted. Data in this category include original measurements made by individual researchers. These data are will be made available to interested parties two years after the end date for data generation. Data can be released earlier with permission of the researcher responsible for their generation.
Type III Data: Restricted Data. These are data for which the regular two-year restriction has been extended. Researchers may request an extension of the restricted status for their data. Extensions should be justified in writing. These data may be released with permission from the researcher responsible for their generation.
Citing Black Rock Forest Data
All publications that use or refer to data generated in the Black Rock Forest should cite the Black Rock Forest database and the researchers responsible for data collection. Data citations should be executed in a similar fashion as literature citations. They should be contained under the header “Data Cited.” Each citation should include the name(s) of the researcher(s) responsible for generating the data, the title of the data set, where the data set is located, and the years during which the data were collected.
See also the
protocols for submitting data to the Black Rock Forest database.
