Open sharing and deposition of research data is becoming more important and more common, but is a topic that can be complex to navigate. Many researchers may feel unsure about how to handle data-related issues, such as deposition of data or the different data licensing types. There are currently a range of data handling practices across the Lab, which can be inconsistent or difficult to understand.
To build a common understanding across the Lab of the underlying principles on how to handle data, the Lab is instituting a data policy working group. The goal of the group is to develop policies for data handling for use across the Lab.
In the next months, the working group will examine the existing policies around research data at the Lab, and identify the needs and requirements of the Areas and user facilities for raw and processed data. The group will then draft a policy framework for the Lab that will cover data ownership, preservation, retention, deposition, publication, sharing, citation and other considerations about research data.
The working group will also provide guidance to researchers, for example, in situations where open sharing is not possible, or where Lab intellectual property interests limit the licensing of published data to non-commercial uses only, or if researchers have questions about the publication of datasets.
Leading the working group will be Joerg Heber, the Lab’s Research Information Officer. Working group members include delegates from each Area: Grace Sprehn from Biosciences, Deb Agarwal from Computing Sciences, Charu Varadarajan from Earth and Environmental Sciences, Alex Hexemer from Energy Sciences, Marca Doeff from Energy Technologies, and Axel Huebel from Physical Sciences. The group also includes Sebastian Ainslie from the Intellectual Property Office, Michelle Wong from the Office of Lab (Legal) Counsel, and Adam Stone, the Lab’s Chief Information Officer.
To find out more about the working group’s activities, please contact the representative in your Area or any of the members of the working group.
