Using Data
NEON data span multiple research domains and are often complex, but also provide truly comprehensive coverage across ecosystems. Here, we provide guidance on understanding how data are packaged and documented, as well as provide links to NEON's policies and guidelines for responsible use.
Data Packaging and Formats
Data Formats and Conventions
Learn the basics about the data formats and conventions that NEON uses.
Released, Provisional, and Revised Data
NEON supports transparency and reproducibility in the science generated using NEON data through documentation and making static, unchangeable versions of our data available for the lifetime of the Observatory each year.
Data Product Bundles
Some data products are only useful when analyzed with one or more other data products. Where this is the case, NEON provides data product bundles that include 2 or more products.
FAIR Data
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.
Policies and Guidelines
Data and Sample Use Policies
Learn more about the policies that govern the use of NEON data and samples.
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.
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.