Mri Data Sharing Agreement

The MRI is a collaborative forum to facilitate the scientific management of Michigan's river resources. Towards this end an inventory program, sampling network (Seelbach and Wiley 1997), and river classification framework (Seelbach et al 1998) have been established to organize spatially explicit data sets and promote careful, holistic, and useful scientific analyses. The MRI project (will) maintains a catalogue of geo-referenced data sets available to MRI collaborators. Some of these are publicly available and can be accessed via downloads from the site. Other data sets can be acquired by via FTP or by contacting researchers directly. Access status, contact persons, and other meta-data can be found in the MRI data catalogue.
Researchers interested in collaboration and data sharing can access these geo-referenced data sets by becoming a formal MRI collaborator. Collaborators are expected to both contribute relevant data themselves, and to use data from other collaborators in a responsible fashion. Because our goal is good river science, collaborators voluntarily agree to a set of basic data sharing principles and ethics as a condition of access. Details vary depending on the designated release status of particular data set; of which there are currently four:

Public Domain: These are data available through the MRI website or FTP server which are either in the public domain as a matter of law (e.g. certain monitoring data) or have been released for public distribution by collaborating researchers or other research organizations. Anyone accessing these data fromthe MRI archives and using them in publications and/or other research products is asked to provide :
    1. Full acknowledgement and citation of the contributing researcher(s) using the citation identified in the catalogue meta-data.
    2. Acknowledgment of access through the MRI by citations of (Seelbach and Wiley 1997) and/or the MRI website. (http://rivers.snre.umich.edu/mri/).
MRI-Shared: These are data sets that individual collaborators agree to make available to other MRI collaborators, but do not want placed in the public domain. The data would usually be accessible via the MRI's controlled access FTP site, or may only be available from the collaborating researcher. MRI collaborators using these data in publications and/or other research products are asked to provide :
    1. Full acknowledgement and citation of the contributing researcher(s) using the citation identified in the catalogue meta-data.
    2. Acknowledgment of access through the MRI by citations of (Seelbach and Wiley 1997) and/or the MRI website.
    3. Agreement not to distribute the data in question to third parties without the written consent of the originating researcher.
MRI-limted access: These are data sets that individual researchers are interested in sharing with other collaborators in the context of a specific collaborative analysis. The data might be made accessible via the MRI's controlled access FTP site, or may only be available from the collaborating researcher. MRI collaborators using these data in publications and/or other research products are asked to provide :
    1. Co-authorship and./or full acknowledgement and citation, details to be negotiated with the contributing researcher(s).
    2. Acknowledgment of access through the MRI by citations of (Seelbach and Wiley 1997) and/or the MRI website.
    3. Agreement not to distribute the data in question to third parties without the written consent of the originating researcher.
MRI-associated: These are data not held in MRI archives (WWW or FTP server) that individual researchers may be interested in sharing with other collaborators in a collaborative analysis. The data are available only directly from the collaborating researcher. MRI collaborators using these data in publications and/or other research products are asked to provide:
    1. Co-authorship and./or full acknowledgement and citation, details to be negotiated with the contributing researcher(s).
    2. Agreement not to distribute the data in question to third parties without the written consent of the originating researcher.
If you are interested in becoming an MRI collaborator, please contact Mike Wiley or Paul Seelbach via email.