SWEX Data Policy

Updated 28 June 2022

The SWEX Data Policy is an informal agreement among the participating science teams to work together before, during, and after the field deployment to maximize sharing and access to the rich data legacy from this project.

The basis for the SWEX Data Policy is the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) policy, practice, and guidelines for the exchange of meteorological, hydrological, and related data and products, as embodied in Resolution 40 of the Twelfth WMO Congress 1995 (CG-XII), and Resolution 25 of the Thirteenth WMO Congress 1999 (CG-XIII); that is, free, timely, and unrestricted exchange of essential data and products to the maximum extent possible. The purpose of the policy is to simply document what the PI teams have agreed to with regard to the submission, access, sharing and publication of SWEX data. It is meant to reinforce the data management approach being taken by the project. The complete SWEX Data Policy is outlined below.

1. Prompt Submission of Data to the SWEX Project Archive: All instrument teams participating in SWEX agree to promptly submit their preliminary measurement data to the SWEX Data Archive Center (SDAC) within six months after the project data are acquired. For real-time data collected in the field, this is by 16 November 2022. This will facilitate inter-comparison of results, quality control checks and inter- calibrations, and integrated interpretation of the combined data set. The preliminary data submission period for most data is, therefore, from 16 May 2022 to 16 November 2022. For measurements that require off-line analysis after the field project, including chemical analysis of samples collected, preliminary data should be released within six months of analysis.
2. Reasonable Time for Data Availability: All instrument teams participating in SWEX agree to submit their final quality controlled measurement data and appropriate model products to the SWEX Data Archive within 14 months after the project data are acquired. For real-time data, this is 16 July 2023. This will facilitate final archival and quality control checks in advance of the initial public release on 16 July 2023. Thus, the time period for submission of most final products is from 15 May 2022 to 16 July 2023.
3. Data Analysis Period: During the Data Analysis Period, defined as up to 1 year, plus a two-month grace period, following the end of the SWEX Field Project Deployment, SWEX Principal Investigators (PIs) will have exclusive access to this data in the SWEX Data Archive at EOL. This analysis period is designed to provide an opportunity to quality control the combined data set as well as to provide the investigators ample time to publish their results. Data will be password protected upon the request of the data provider.
4. Twelve-Month Project Data Sharing Limited Access: All data in the SWEX Data Archive will be considered Public Domain no later than 1 year (plus two month grace period granted by EOL) following the end of the SWEX Field Project Deployment (i.e., on 16 July 2023 and thereafter). A dataset within the SWEX archive can be opened to the public domain earlier at the discretion of the data provider for this particular dataset. 
5. Sharing Datasets: All data shall be promptly provided to other SWEX investigators upon request. All SWEX investigators will have equal access to all data. A list of SWEX investigators will be maintained by NCAR/EOL and will include the Principal Investigators (PIs) directly participating in the field experiment as well as collaborating scientists who have provided guidance in the planning and analysis of SWEX data.
6. Data Analysis Period: During the data analysis period, the investigator(s) who collected the data must be notified first of the intent to use the data, in particular, if data is to be provided to a third party (e.g., journal articles, presentations, research proposals, other investigators). It is strongly encouraged that PIs responsible for the acquisition of data be invited to become collaborators and co-authors on any projects, publications, and presentations. If the contribution of the data product is significant to the publication, the PIs responsible for generating a measurement or a data product should be offered the right of co-authorship. Any use of the data should include an acknowledgment (i.e., citation). In all circumstances, the PIs responsible for the acquisition of data should be acknowledged appropriately. Following availability in the public domain, users of the data are strongly encouraged to contact the relevant PIs prior to incorporating it into peer-reviewed publications.
7. Acknowledgment: All materials will contain the acknowledgment of NSF support as per NSF policy: “This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1921554 (ND), 1921504 (UVA), 1921596 (CU, Boulder), 1921595 (UCSB), 1921583 (SJSU), and 1921546 (UAlbany).” Additionally, materials will contain a disclaimer that “any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.”
8. Citation and Digital Object Identifiers: International agencies, professional societies, and research organizations are moving towards requiring researchers to formally cite data and sources that led to a given research result. Consequently, there has been an increased use of DOIs or Digital Object Identifiers (used to cite publications for many years), as a simple standard way to also reference or cite datasets. DOIs allow for linkages between datasets and respective publications, thus providing the ability to track the use of these datasets in the literature (metrics). DOIs are considered “perpetual,” and citation format standards have been established for data DOIs. Once final datasets are submitted to the SWEX Data Archive, EOL will create and distribute respective DOIs that should be used in SWEX-related publications. DOIs will not be created for preliminary data.