Waterisotopes Database Data Use Policy

Data in the Waterisotopes Database are compiled from a range of public domain and private sources as a resource to support the research community. Most contributors have agreed to allow download and reuse of their data on the condition that users appropriately attribute any data used. The following describes the terms of this reuse:

1. Data obtained from the Waterisotope Database may be used freely for non-commercial research and education activities so long as the attribution guidelines given below (#2 and 3) are followed. Some data contributors have specific prohibitions against commercial use of data available through the Database; prior to commercial use the data policies of individual sources must be consulted and any necessary permissions obtained.
2. In order to assure traceability, any presentation, report, or publication that uses data downloaded from the database should cite http://waterisotopes.org as the immediate data source and include the date(s) of data access and the site name and/or query values used to obtain the data. For example: Waterisotopes Database (2017) http://waterisotopesDB.org. Accessed 2/25/2017. Query: Country=ZA, Type=Tap.
3. The ultimate source of all data in the database is documented and available to the user upon download. For single sites, this information is accessed by clicking on the 'project number' shown for that data and site. For multi-site downloads, the data package provided includes a table containing provenance information for the downloaded data. Literature citations are provided for data associated with a published work, and contact information for data contributors is provided where available.
   1. In general, projects using data derived from a small number of sources (i.e. 5 or less) should include the literature citations provided for each of the data sources, where available, within the primary publication.
   2. For studies that synthesize data from a large number of sources and are published in journals that restrict the number of citations per paper, researchers should cite any single source that constitutes more than 20% of the data used in their paper. Citations for other data sources should be included in a table or supplement.
   3. For any study that uses unpublished data or which is based entirely or primarily on a single published dataset, researchers are encouraged to contact data contributors at the outset of their project and make them aware of the intended use. In cases where the contributor might be able to make a material intellectual contribution to the work, either by contributing directly to the project activities or by providing additional contextual information facilitating the use of the isotopic data, the researchers using the data are encouraged to offer to engage the data contributor as a collaborator in their project.
4. Data obtained from the Waterisotopes Database may be redistributed on the condition that data source information and the text from this page describing the data use policy accompanies the redistributed data.
5. Although the database managers strive to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information in the Waterisotopes Database, all data are provided as is without guarantee. In some cases data contributors may have more complete or up-to-date data collections that they are willing to share directly with other researchers or collaborators. The SPATIAL team welcomes reports of suspected inaccuracies or data quality issues and will do our best to resolve any such issues as they are brought to our attention.
6. Any questions or comments regarding the appropriate use of data from the Waterisotopes Database should be directed to Gabe Bowen. We appreciate receiving copies of any work making use of data obtained from the database.