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  1. Data & Samples
  2. Data Guidelines and Policies

Data Guidelines and Policies

NEON is committed to providing data of high value to the ecological research community by meeting the FAIR data principles. These principles recommend that data be:

  • Findable, through globally unique persistent identifiers and rich metadata which is indexed in a searchable resource.
  • Accessible, through standardized communication protocols. Metadata should be preserved even when data are no longer available.
  • Interoperable, through the use of broadly accessible language with shared vocabularies and qualified references to other metadata.
  • Reusable, through prescribed data usage criteria, documentation of provenance, and defined domain-relevant community standards.

To show our commitment to FAIR, we are a COPDESS signatory for the Enabling FAIR Data project, as a data repository and research infrastructure.

We highly encourage practices that continue the enablement of FAIR, including acknowledging and citing sources of data, samples, and documentation as well as preserving and openly publishing research inputs, workflows, and outputs so that they may be discovered and used by others.

Data and Sample Use Policies

Learn more about the policies that govern the use of NEON data and samples.

Read the policies

Acknowledging and Citing NEON

Have you used any data, samples, media, or materials from NEON? Learn how to best cite and acknowledge NEON in your publications, presentations, or other outputs.

Cite Us

Publishing Research Outputs

Thinking about how to maximize credit for your research? Here are some guidelines on best practices for publishing outputs from your research that used NEON.

Learn more
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Copyright © Battelle, 2019-2020

The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.