This policy is consistent with the MRC Policy on Data Sharing and the UK Research and Innovation common principles on research data.
The Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit at the University of Oxford (MRC BNDU) receives funding from the Medical Research Council, UK (MRC), a part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). As a publicly-funded research institute, we have a responsibility to ensure the best use and re-use of the data we generate.
Data that are generated in the Unit will be shared via the MRC BNDU Data Sharing Platform or open repositories, unless due to size or statutory restrictions this is not possible.
This policy was last revised on 3 September 2024.
Publications from the MRC BNDU will describe how to obtain the data generated by the Unit, and in cases where data has been generated externally, will provide a contact at the organisation that provided it. Where practical, we will register the data that underlies any publication as one or more DOIs for the corresponding datasets that were used or created. This will be done irrespective of whether the datasets are freely available at that time.
The Unit’s Data Sharing Platform contains publicly-viewable metadata for all its datasets. This will include the data formats, key details of how they were acquired and descriptions of file naming rules followed. Also described will be conditions required before access will be granted. The Data Sharing Platform page for each dataset also details the license and terms of use specific to that dataset. This metadata is indexed in the Google Dataset Search, as well as Google web search.
We create entries in the Oxford Research Archive for all our datasets, irrespective of where they are hosted, so that ORA is a complete record of outputs.
The publications presented on the MRC BNDU web site automatically include links to source datasets in the Data Sharing Platform.
Data submitted to open repositories will be searchable by metadata, and the repositories will be used only if they are popular source of datasets within a scientific community.
Data deposited in a community repository will in most cases lead to data being available to everyone who requests it (ORA-Data, ModelDB). Data shared from the MRC BNDU Data Sharing Platform requires users to register for an account to download datasets. Account creation does not require approval. The majority of datasets are available for all users with an account, but some may require an access request be made to the dataset’s manager (typically the programme leader of the group that generated it). This request will be assessed against the conditions for access (stated on the dataset page), that were agreed upon by the Unit’s ISF & DA Committee. In the case of a rejection of an application, the dataset manager will email the requester explaining how the conditions were not met, and offering an opportunity to refine the request or to appeal the decision. An appeal would be considered by the Unit’s Information Security Forum & Data Access Committee, with input from the dataset manager and Programme Leader concerned, but neither would have a deciding vote in the appeal.
The MRC BNDU does not have exclusivity to any of our datasets after first publication. Instead, when sharing a dataset could reduce the impact of ongoing research, sharing will be covered by a data transfer agreement (DTA). This might include a clause that the MRC BNDU researchers would have to approve the final manuscript to which their data contributed before submission. This ensures that data reuse occurs without delay, but that the external users wouldn’t use it for purposes that would reduce the novelty of ongoing MRC BNDU research. Applications for access to data sets under terms of a DTA would come via the same routes as other data sets, from an email address in a data availability statement on the original publication, or via the Data Sharing Platform, where the conditions under which access will be granted will be clearly stated.
If funding for a programme is discontinued at some point in the future, data sets that have been generated, but not shared via the Data Sharing Platform or repository, will be assessed by the Data Access Committee. If the Committee judge that data will not to contribute a publication by the originators, it will be deposited into open community repositories.
The following steps are taken to reduce delays to sharing:
· Patient consent forms will include permission to share data.
· Where possible, initial ethical approval for a study will include permission to share data.
· Human data has identifiers removed point of acquisition.
· File formats are selected to be the most open from the point of acquisition.
· Naming and directory structure of files follows standards and are consistent across a project (e.g. dates follow ISO 8601, animal unique identifiers are used).
· When MRC BNDU publications include data from external collaborators, sharing conditions will have been discussed and agreed at the beginning of the collaboration.
· Data management workflows will aim to have datasets finalised and uploaded to the Data Sharing Platform by the date of publication, even if due to on-going projects access to these will be under a data transfer agreement.
All the licenses we use for datasets require attribution. To give appropriate credit to data-sharers, we require that the advice given by the Digital Curation Centre for citing datasets is followed. A citation should include at least the following information:
Creators, year of publication of the dataset, title of the dataset, publisher of the dataset, and unique identifier- usually a DOI.
An example in the Oxford referencing style:
Herz, D. (2017), Neural correlates of speed-accuracy adjustments in the subthalamic nucleus [dataset] (University of Oxford), doi:10.5287/bodleian:VEd27b0Yr