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DATA LEADERSHIP

AGU and Data Leadership

Recognizing the challenges and opportunities provided by the growing importance of data and software in the Earth and space sciences, AGU, in cooperation with our partners at Earth Science Information Partners, Research Data Alliance, and the World Data System, is developing new programs to help researchers, align professionals, repositories, and institutions, obtain and improve skills around data collection, data management, plan development, and curation.

AGU Data Position Statement

AGU’s position statement on data affirms that: “Earth and space science data are a world heritage, and an essential part of the science ecosystem. All players in the science ecosystem—researchers, repositories, publishers, funders, institutions, etc.—should work to ensure that relevant scientific evidence is processed, shared, and used ethically, and is available, preserved, documented, and fairly credited. To achieve this legacy, all AGU members and stakeholders must have a clear understanding of the culture of responsible research, and take action to support, enable, and nurture that culture.” 

The rapid growth and complexity of research data, thanks to new methods, tools, satellites, and sensors are posing challenges for researchers and repositories to determine and meet the aspiration of “proper care.” Many repositories have set good precedent; however, work remains to be done in better documenting and connecting data that supports a publication. Worldwide, new mandates around data from funders and governments require public access and transparency. Research scientists and institutions need to expand and hone skills to address these changes and manage critical data for future use and understanding.


Data and Software for AGU Publications

AGU requires that the underlying data needed to understand, evaluate, and build upon the reported research be available at the time of peer review and publication. Additionally, authors should make available software that has a significant impact on the research.

AGU provides guidelines to support author compliance with open and FAIR data standards in our journals. Information for authors on data and software availability statements, citations, repository selection, and modeling data can be found at Data and Software for Authors.

Illustration of data and global information connecting

Partners

CHORUS DataCite DRYAD ESIP The Nature Conservancy

Research Data Alliance World Data System

Enabling FAIR Data

 

FAIR data principles emphasize that research data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable to open avenues of scientific discovery and improve replicability. Starting in 2014 with our work supporting the Coalition on Publishing Data for the Earth and Space Sciences (COPDESS), leading publishers and repositories developed an agreement to require that data be well-documented and included with publications, with funding provided by the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation.

Photo caption: Stall, S, et al. (2019)

Make scientific data fair

In 2017, AGU convened an expanded coalition that brought together the COPDESS stakeholders along with data infrastructure organizations, funders, institutions, societies, and others. We partnered with Earth Science Information PartnersResearch Data Alliance, and DataCite to take the next steps beyond COPDESS and implement leading practices, scaling them across the discipline. Funded by Arnold Ventures (previously the Laura and John Arnold Foundation), the goal is to have data related to publications be preserved by repositories that support the FAIR Guiding Principles and cited in the paper.   

Individuals and organizations interested in implementing best practices for data are encouraged to sign on to the Enabling FAIR Data Project Commitment Statement.

Learn More

AGU Data FAIR (for Researchers)

Data help desk

 

 

The AGU Data FAIR connects researchers with the Earth, space, and environmental informatics experts. Our partner, Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) coordinates the Data Help Desk that assists with questions at society meetings. Whether you are looking to make your data FAIR or you’re interested in new tools, the Data Help Desk is an excellent resource. Look for upcoming events at:  AGU Fall MeetingEGU General AssemblyGSA Annual MeetingESA Annual Meeting, and the Ocean Sciences Meeting with future support at the AMS Annual Meeting. Follow #DataHelpDesk and #AGUDataFAIR on twitter.

ESIP Data Help Desk

 

Data and Software Sharing


AGU requires that the underlying data needed to understand, evaluate, and build upon the reported research be available at the time of peer review and publication. Additionally, authors should make available software that has a significant impact on the research.

AGU provides guidelines to support author compliance with open and FAIR data standards in our journals. Information for authors on data and software availability statements, citations, repository selection, and modeling data can be found at Data and Software for Authors.

 

 

Data Citation References

Data Citation Guidelines for Earth Science Data [Document] - ESIP Data Preservation and Stewardship Committee (2019): Data Citation Guidelines for Earth Science Data , Version 2. ESIP. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8441816.v1

Why and How to Cite Data [Video] – Webinar on general data citation training, guidelines and examples. Parsons, Mark, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2018, June).

A Data Citation Roadmap for Scientific Publishers [Article] - Cousijn, H., Kenall, A., Ganley, E. et al. (2018). A data citation roadmap for scientific publishers. Sci Data 5, 180259. doi:10.1038/sdata.2018.259

A Data Citation Roadmap for Scholarly Data Repositories [Article] - Fenner, M., Crosas, M., Grethe, J.S. et al. A data citation roadmap for scholarly data repositories. Sci Data 6, 28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0031-8

Data Citation Synthesis Group: Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles [Document] – Foundational document. Data Citation Synthesis Group: Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles. Martone M. (ed.) San Diego CA: FORCE11; 2014 https://doi.org/10.25490/a97f-egyk
Software Citation References
ESIP Software and Services Citation Cluster [Document] - ESIP Software and Services Citation Cluster. (2019). Software and Services Citation Guidelines and Examples. Ver. 1. ESIP. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7640426
Software Citation Checklist for Authors [Document] - Chue Hong, Neil P., Allen, Alice, Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra, de Waard, Anita, Smith, Arfon M., Robinson, Carly, … Pollard, Tom. (2019, October 15). Software Citation Checklist for Authors (Version 0.9.0). Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3479198
Software Citation Checklist for Developers [Document] - Chue Hong, Neil P., Allen, Alice, Gonzalez-Beltran, de Waard, Anita, Smith, Arfon M., Robinson, Carly, … Pollard, Tom. (2019, October 15). Software Citation Checklist for Developers (Version 0.9.0). Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3482769
Software Citation Principles [Article] - Smith AM, Katz DS, Niemeyer KE, FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group. (2016). Software citation principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e86 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.86

Repositories

For the software and data that supports your research to be properly preserved and cited, it must be placed in an appropriate repository.  Where possible, use discipline-specific repositories, institutional repositories that provide preservation services, or generalist repositories. Repositories are critical for creating proper data citations and help facilitate discovery and preservation.  

Domain Repositories 
Institutional Repositories 
General Repositories 
AGU CoreTrustSeal Cohort 
  • Earth, space, and environmental science repositories are invited to join the cohort navigating CoreTrustSeal certification. Please contact Rebecca Koskela for more information.  Rebecca Koskela <[email protected]>  
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Resources

AGU Data Leadership Program Website - Resources/latest work from Data Leadership on best practices that support the management, preservation, sharing, and citation of data and software

AGU Open and FAIR Data and Software Channel – Follow our AGU Channel to learn more about FAIR Data at AGU. 

Data and Software Sharing
  • Make Scientific Data FAIR [Article] - Stall, S, et al. (2019), Make scientific data FAIR, Nature 570, 27-29 (2019) doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-01720-7
  • State of Open Data Report [Document] - Science, Digital; Fane, Briony; Ayris, Paul; Hahnel, Mark; Hrynaszkiewicz, Iain; Baynes, Grace; et al. (2019): The State of Open Data Report 2019. figshare. Report. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9980783.v2
Training 
Frameworks 
FAIR and Open Data 
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Contacts

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Shelley Stall

Vice President, Data Leadership | ORCID: 0000-0003-2926-8353

202.777.7307 | [email protected]