Download A guide to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research

A guide to the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC)
Data Sharing Statement
Version
1
Date
21/03/2016
Author
Gareth Cole
Edits
First draft
This document is an adaptation of guides previously created by the data.bris team
at the University of Bristol.
Introduction:
BBSRC is committed to getting the best value for the funds we invest and believes
that making research data more readily available will reinforce open scientific enquiry
and stimulate new investigations and analyses. As such, BBSRC supports the view
that data sharing should be led by the scientific community and driven by scientific
need. It should also be cost effective and the data shared should be of the highest
quality.
BBSRC expects research data generated as a result of BBSRC support to be made
available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner to
the scientific community for subsequent research.
BBSRC are aware that timescales for data sharing will be influenced by the nature of
the data but it is expected that timely release would generally be no later than the
release through publication of the main findings.
In addition, data should also be retained for a period of ten years after completion of
a research project.
In line with BBSRC policy, all applications seeking research grant funding from
BBSRC must submit a statement on data sharing. This should include concise plans
for data management and sharing as part of research grant proposals or provide
explicit reasons why data sharing is not possible or appropriate.
BBSRC does not have a set template of what should go into the Data Sharing
Statement and recognises that data sharing plans will vary according to the type of
data collected. However, they do indicate eight areas which you may wish to include:
• Data Areas and data types
• Standards and metadata
• Relationship to other data available in public repositories
• Secondary use
• Methods for data sharing
• Proprietary data
• Timeframes
• Format of the final dataset
Areas for data sharing and types of data:
In your Data Sharing Plan, you should provide an estimate of the volume and type of
data you expect to generate.
BBSRC has identified three main areas where there is a particularly strong scientific
case for data sharing:
1. Data arising from high volume experimentation
Defined as ‘those generating a dataset or datasets consisting of 100s of
measurements generated in parallel or near-parallel from a single experimental
sample that can be captured and stored in a readily accessible electronic format.’
2. Low throughput data arising from long time series or cumulative approaches
Standardised measurements and collect samples at regular intervals, creating both
data and biological sample resources that can be subjected to retrospective analysis.
Often this data can’t be substituted or replicated.
3. Models generated using systems approaches
Models are themselves a valuable and shareable output of research and can be as
important as the data they generate. Where possible, BBSRC expect these models
to be submitted to an appropriate repository, such as the BioModels Database. 1
Data and Metadata standards:
Where available, BBSRC researchers should generate and manage data using
existing widely accepted formats and methodologies. In some disciplines these are
not well defined and in those instances, BBSRC encourages community
development of standards and it provides funding mechanisms for support of this
type of activity.
Examples of current standards are SBML and CellML. The BioModels Database, for
example, only accepts models in these formats.
If standard formats are not defined, you should use open formats and technologies
rather than commercial technologies where possible. The advantage of open
technologies is that they are supported by a community of users rather than a vendor
or group of vendors. This means that they are less sensitive to commercial
pressures and thus less likely to be withdrawn from use. The research need should
always be paramount and if this requires you to use commercial technologies then
you should state that here. The UK Data Service has a useful guide to acceptable
formats for long term preservation. 2
Metadata (“data about data”) enables other users to find and reuse your data. The
metadata will include information such as any special software you used to create
the data output, what file formats is the data created in etc.
Relationships to other data available in public repositories:
You should outline here the relationship of your data to existing datasets available
for reuse.
Secondary use:
You should outline the reuse potential of your dataset or model.
1
2
www.ebi.ac.uk/biomodels-main
http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/format/recommended-formats.aspx
Methods for data sharing:
BBSRC expect that data sharing will fall into two broad categories:
1. Via an existing database, repository or other community resource
2. By the award holder providing the data on request.
Where appropriate repositories exist it is expected that you will use these to share
your data. The BBSRC has helped to fund a number of developments in this area
through the Bioinformatics and biological resources fund. 3
If there is no discipline specific repository available you can use the Loughborough
data repository. 4 The data repository provides on-going access to research data and
provides a citable DOI for each data record. Contact [email protected] for more
information.
If you decide not to deposit your data or models in a repository you need to ensure
that the data is available for other users (on request) for a minimum of ten years.
Proprietary data:
If any data will not be freely available for reuse then you should state that in your
data sharing statement with the reasons for this.
Timeframes:
Where your research community has an established practice for making research
data available then you should follow that practice. For example, the Crystallography
community has agreed a maximum 12-month delay between publishing the first
paper on a structure and making coordinates public for secondary use.
Where there is no established practice, BBSRC expect that the release of the data
would be no later than the release through publication of the main findings and
should be in-line with established best practice in the field. Where best practice does
not exist, release within three years of generation of the dataset is suggested as a
guide.
Format of the final dataset:
List the expected formats of the final datasets and models (see section above on
data and metadata standards).
Citing Research Data in Publications:
3
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/opportunities/2013/2013-bioinformatics-biological-resourcesfund.aspx
4
https://lboro.figshare.com
The RCUK policy on Open Access 5 requires 'all research papers, if applicable, to
include a statement on how underlying research materials, such as data, samples or
models, can be accessed. However, the policy does not require that the data must
be made open.' The policy does not include any recommended wording for this
statement. Some suggested wording could include:
• The research materials supporting this publication can be publically accessed in
[insert repository/data centre/archive here] via the following persistent identifier:
[insert Persistent Identifier here]. The research materials are available under a
[insert licence here].
• The research materials supporting this publication have been deposited in [insert
repository/data centre/archive here]. If you wish to access these research
materials please contact [insert name and contact details here].
• The research materials supporting this publication can be accessed at [insert
URL here].
• The research materials supporting this publication can be accessed by
contacting [insert contact details here].
• Due to the confidential nature of some of the research materials supporting this
publication not all of the data can be made accessible to other researchers.
Please contact [insert contact details here] for more information.
Helpful links:
BBSRC data sharing policy:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/organisation/policies/position/policy/data-sharing-policy.aspx
5
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/outputs/