Other data publishing considerations

Owned by Matthew Harp
Jul 20, 2022
2 min read

Data use policies

A dataset is considered to consist of data resulting from a single research project. A dataset is considered to be incomplete without accompanying documentation (metadata) that provides information necessary to evaluate the quality of the data and to make use of it in future research activities.

Publication of a dataset makes it available to the broader research community.

Classes of data

Public data

Most datasets generated by ASU research projects will fall into this category. These data are considered shareable without restrictions, having been produced solely from local research activities or analysis using other publicly available data.

These data should be documented and made freely available within a reasonable time after collection. This timetable may be dictated by the funding agency or a journal if they relate to a submitted peer-reviewed manuscript.

Restricted data

Restricted data are exceptional datasets that are available only with permission from the PI/investigator(s) or limited to an approved population. These are rare in occurrence and justification for restrictions should be documented by the lead PI and project team. Examples of restricted data include:

  • Datasets that contain Personal Identifiable Information (PII), although an anonymized subset of data may be published without restriction.

  • Datasets in which some or all of the data are subject to copyright restrictions imposed by non-ASU institutions.

  • Datasets in which some or all of the data are subject to licensing restrictions such as purchased satellite data.

The terms and timetable for the availability of restricted data will vary. Some repositories support the publication of a metadata description to aid in dataset discovery and these metadata are treated as public data.

Guidelines for acceptable use of research data

  • While a researcher may make every effort to control and document the quality of the published data, the data are always made available “as is.” The university cannot assume responsibility for damages resulting from misuse or misinterpretation of datasets or from errors or omissions that may exist in data published by or on behalf of ASU researchers.

  • It is considered a matter of professional ethics to acknowledge the work of researchers that results in data used in subsequent research. Arizona State University expects that any use of data from ASU sources will be accompanied by the appropriate citations and acknowledgments.

  • We encourage users to contact the original investigator responsible for the data that they are accessing. Where appropriate, researchers whose projects are integrally dependent on ASU-supplied data are encouraged to consider collaboration and/or co-authorship with original investigators.