By submitting data, metadata, related files, and any other content to BCO-DMO, submitters warrant that they own the rights to the content and are authorized to do so under original copyright. Digital objects in BCO-DMO are protected under original copyright with all rights reserved, where applicable (e.g., metadata and documents such as related publications, cruise reports, manuals, etc.). Data themselves are not copyrightable in the United States (see 17 U.S.C. Sec. 102(b) and Compendium (Third) § 101.1(A) chapter 300)).
Furthermore, by submitting project output to the repository, the submitter grants BCO-DMO the permissions needed to copy, reformat, store, redistribute, and share data, metadata, and any related content. By reviewing, and approving any edits and reformatting performed by BCO-DMO, submitters grant BCO-DMO permission to apply appropriate licensing and make their data publicly available (i.e. publish their data), granting users the right to reuse their data according to the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license (see "Licensing and Attribution" below).
There is, by necessity, a period of time after a data submitter contributes their data and metadata to the repository that data and, in some cases, metadata are inaccessible to the public. This lag reflects the time required to appraise, process, and complete publication of the resulting data packages. This length of time may vary depending on the type and amount of data, the total number of submissions, and the collaboration and cooperation received from the submitter to resolve any questions and issues. BCO-DMO makes every concerted effort to process data efficiently, however, this period of inaccessibility is necessary to complete all activities associated with publishing Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data.
BCO-DMO’s primary mission is to curate project output from research awardees, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections and Office of Polar Programs. As a function of receiving their awards, investigators agree to comply with all appropriate NSF data collection guidance, as outlined in the NSF "Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide" (PAPPG, and relevant subsections within sections B, D, E, G, H, K, and M of Chapter XI). These policies and procedures include detailed criteria for sensitive data collection and disclosure compliance. BCO-DMO operates under the understanding that awardees have complied with the appropriate NSF award criteria and rules by virtue of receiving their award and remaining in good standing with their funders and institutions. BCO-DMO does not publish, nor intend to publish, data associated with disclosure risk. For awardees funded through other agencies, BCO-DMO encourages consultation between funder and repository prior to data collection.
Should there be questions or concerns about the confidentiality or ethical risk associated with data collected, BCO-DMO advises Principal Investigators to resolve issues with their funding Program Officers before submitting data to the repository.
BCO-DMO’s website, data, and supporting documentation are freely accessible for use by the public, provided users adhere to the terms of Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, with the exception of data temporarily embargoed under the NSF OCE Sample and Data Policy. BCO-DMO encourages all submitters to release their data for public access upon submission, however, acknowledges the need for restricted use during scholarly manuscript peer review (see "Embargoed Data" below).
BCO-DMO recommends that re-users of data contact the original Principal Investigator (or the designated contact person identified in the metadata record) should additional information about the data be needed beyond what is available on the website. In the event that data with existing more restrictive licensing is used in research output submitted to BCO-DMO, the existing licensing will be honored and maintained according to licensing requirements.
The output of NSF-funded research is required to be open and public within two years of collection, as per the NSF OCE Division Sample and Data Policy (NSF 24-124). BCO-DMO considers all data submitted to the repository to be in the public domain as per this policy unless explicitly noted by the submitter (i.e., an embargo request is provided at the time of data submission). Under the terms of embargo, data observations themselves will be restricted from public access for up to two years beyond the collection date provided by the submitter. Access is restricted to observations, while metadata remains discoverable and accessible.
Prior to the expiration of the embargo period, submitters will be notified of the impending status change to public release. Data will be made public upon expiration of the embargo period unless further time is requested by the submitter. If an embargo period beyond two years is necessary (e.g., for extended publication times), investigators should contact their NSF Program Officer to negotiate an extension. BCO-DMO does not directly entertain requests to extend embargo periods but accommodates extensions mutually agreed upon by the funder and awardee. This process may be revisited as necessary.
BCO-DMO endeavors to ensure proper use of the data, information, and software curated in its catalog, and attribution to all data contributors as identified by the submitter. A Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license is applied to all final data packages. This license allows a user of the data to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially; providing: appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and an indication if changes were made is given. The re-user may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses the re-user or re-use. In the event that data with existing, more restrictive, licensing is used in research output submitted to BCO-DMO, such licensing will be honored and maintained according to licensing requirements.
Code and software, submitted to BCO-DMO as ancillary to a dataset, will be attached and referenced as supplemental files. The entire archival dataset package with the data and supplemental code will receive a CC BY 4.0 license. However, because this is not the ideal license for code files, we recommended submitters deposit their code in a long-term archive with an open-source license that best fits code files (see guidance on "Models, Software, & Code"). Submitting the subsequent code or software DOI along with its related dataset metadata will avoid any incompatible licensing collisions.
Per the CC BY 4 license, it is understood that any use of the data obtained from BCO-DMO will properly acknowledge the data contributors. Dataset contributors are identified in every dataset metadata record and within the recommended citation that is accessible on each dataset landing page.
BCO-DMO aligns with the data citation guidelines published by the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), Data Citation Guidelines for Earth Science Data Version 2, and follows APA style when associating related publications to curated datasets.
When constructing human-readable data citations it is recommended these key components be included:
&#xNAN;Principal Investigator (PI) name(s) (VERSION YEAR) title of dataset, publisher or distributor, data version ID and/or full version date, DOI or URL, date accessed/retrieved.
Suggested dataset citations in APA format are provided on every BCO-DMO dataset landing page. We recommend this format whenever citing data in manuscripts, presentations, or other publications.
If a DOI is available for a dataset, it is preferable to cite the DOI rather than URL. If you would like to cite a BCO-DMO dataset that does not have a DOI assigned, please contact our office at info@bco-dmo.org. While we routinely assign DOIs to all datasets once they are finalized, there may be legacy datasets published before this routine practice was established that are missing DOIs, however, we can assign them upon request.
Example Data Set Citations:
Twining, B. (2020) Element quotas of individual phytoplankton cells from GEOTRACES-EPZT cruise TN303, 2013. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2016-07-19 [if applicable, indicate subset used]. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.643270.1 [access date]
Conte, M. H. (2022) Mass flux and concentrations of bulk components (Carbonate, Organic Carbon/Nitrogen, Lithogenics, Opal) and elements in the flux at 500m, 1500m and 3200m depths from the OFP sediment trap time-series in the northern Sargasso Sea. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2022-08-30 [if applicable, indicate subset used]. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.784396.1 [access date]
The BCO-DMO repository provides mid-term data assembly and curation infrastructure. As a grant-sponsored project, BCO-DMO is subject to terms, conditions, and uncertainties associated with grant funding. To ensure sustainability of the repository's data catalog and associated project information, BCO-DMO implements a multiple, redundant, long-term preservation strategy to ensure continuity of data access, should the repository suddenly cease operations. Data packages that have been published with DOIs at BCO-DMO are harvested by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) for inclusion in NCEI's archive. Additionally, a copy of all data packages, including legacy data for which DOIs have not been assigned, are submitted to the Internet Archive for long-term preservation.
The project continuously strives to develop and implement automated workflows and emerging technologies, including AI, to streamline operations, reduce costs, and build a more modular, resilient system. In the process, the infrastructure serves as a research and development platform for informatics research, helping to improve data reuse and accelerate time to science.