ICSU-WDS Data Policy
The International Council for Science – World Data System (ICSU-WDS) aims to promote universal and equitable access to quality-assured scientific data, data services, products and information, with a view towards long term data stewardship. Furthermore, ICSU-WDS is committed to fostering compliance with agreed-upon data standards and conventions, and providing mechanisms to facilitate and improve access to data. As the leading international, multidisciplinary organization in the provision of trusted data services, ICSU-WDS has adopted Data Sharing Principles to advance its goals.
Principles
- Data, metadata, products, and information should be fully and openly shared, subject to national or international jurisdictional laws and policies, including respecting appropriate extant restrictions, and in accordance with international standards of ethical research conduct.
- Data, metadata, products, and information produced for research, education, and public-domain use will be made available with minimum time delay and free of charge, or for no more than the cost of dissemination, which may be waived for lower-income user communities to support equity in access.
- All who produce, share, and use data and metadata are stewards of those data, and have responsibility for ensuring that the authenticity, quality, and integrity of the data are preserved, and respect for the data source is maintained by ensuring privacy where appropriate, and encouraging appropriate citation of the dataset and original work and acknowledgement of the data repository.
- Data should be labelled ‘sensitive’ or ‘restricted’ only with appropriate justification and following clearly defined protocols, and should in any event be made available for use on the least restrictive basis possible.
More information is available on the PDF : ICSU-WDS Data Sharing Principles
