CWVC Data Protocol

The aims of the Data Protocol are

• to encourage rapid dissemination of scientific results from CWVC;
• to protect the rights of the individual scientists funded by CWVC;
• to have all the involved researchers treated equitably;
• to ensure the quality of the data in the CWVC data archive.

These aims may conflict at times and it is hoped that the provisions of the protocol resolve these conflicts fairly. It is recognised that this cannot always be achieved to everyone's complete satisfaction; there are bound to be cases where individual interests clash with those of the CWVC programme. Therefore, to try to meet these aims, all principal investigators (PI) involved in the CWVC programme, in accordance with and on behalf of their co-investigators, must agree to abide by the following conditions.

1. CWVC data and model results produced during the programme will be made available to all participants, and to CWVC participants only, during a restricted access period ending one year after the concerned project end date, after which data and model results will be released to the public domain. At a PI's request, access may be extended to personally authorised collaborators.
2. The designated CWVC data centres are the Met Office for data collected aboard the C-130 aircraft and the BADC for all other data.
3. The longevity of validated raw data must be ensured in a secure archive, if possible at one of the designated data centres. Details pertaining to the validated raw data (i.e. metadata), whether or not archived at BADC, must be sent to the BADC, as well as information on how to access the data.
4. When relevant, preliminary data must be made available to CWVC collaborators as soon as possible. Any corrections or amendments to the preliminay data should be announced as soon as possible.
5. Validated processed data (i.e. data sets in their final form) must be archived at one of the designated CWVC data centres. Archival must take place no later than the end of the concerned project.
6. Results of model studies feeding other CWVC projects or using data acquired during CWVC can be made available via the BADC.
7. Data submitted to the BADC must be in the data format agreed between CWVC principal investigators and the BADC. All agreed metadata describing data, models and model results, regardless of their archival location, must be supplied to BADC. Format and metadata are documented at BADC.
8. It is each principal investigator's responsibility to ensure that the data used in publications are the best available at that time.
9. If measurements or model results from other research groups within CWVC are used in a publication by a CWVC participant, joint authorship must be offered. This does not necessarily have to be accepted, particularly in case where due credit and acknowledgement can be given in other, possibly more appropriate ways.
10. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain (see Clause 1), each PI has the right to refuse to allow his/her work, whether measurement or calculation, to be used in a publication or presentation prior to the PI's own publication of that work.
11. Whilst the data are restricted from the public domain, no data should be transferred to a third party (i.e. a non CWVC participant) without the originator's consent.
12. In the event of dispute, the final decision rests with the CWVC Steering Committee.