DATA USE ETHICS

Access and Use of Archived Data: Ethical Considerations

We believe that archiving data and making such data accessible to all has the potential to greatly increase communication, collaboration and synthesis within our discipline, and thus should be fostered, supported and encouraged. The power and surprising utility of archived data is well-illustrated by all the uses that have been made of the Rothamsted data sets (e.g., Leigh and Johnston, 1994), some of which span more than 150 years of experimental observation. Archived data sets preserve for future researchers the fruits of the efforts and ideas of earlier studies, thus allowing, among other things, the testing of theories proposed long after a study began.

However, for data sharing to be successful and sustainable, it is imperative that all those involved in data acquisition, archiving and use abide by a common set of ethical guidelines. Such guidelines should promote data sharing, collaboration, intellectual openness and scientific advances while acknowledging, encouraging and respecting those individuals whose time, efforts and intellect designed and created the studies and gathered the data. Because no such generally accepted ethical standards yet exit within the ecological community, we have tried to help initiate this process by developing a Code of Ethics and Rules for Use of Cedar Creek LTER and Related Data. Anyone wishing to access or use any of the data collected as part of the Cedar Creek LTER must agree to this code of ethics before accessing or using the data. Only those individuals who abide by this code of ethics are authorized to use Cedar Creek LTER data, no matter how such data might have been obtained.

We strongly believe that our discipline must make significant advances in data archiving and data openness. We have tried to begin a dialog within the ecological community on the issue of the ethics of data archiving and access by publishing, in the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, an article titled "Public Access and Use of Electronically Archived Data: Ethical Considerations" (Davis, M, et al. 2001; Bull. ESA 82: 90-91). We welcome your thoughts on this article. Our code of ethics and our current policy of working to have core data documented and accessible within about 5 years of the time of data collection reflect the ideas articulated in our article in the Bulletin of the ESA. This is, we hope, an area of ongoing development.

R. A. Leigh and A. E. Johnston. 1994. Long-term Experiments in Agricultural and Ecological Sciences.
       CAB CAB International. Wallingford, Oxon, UK.

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