Data Submission Policy

1.0 Scope & Purpose

This policy governs submissions to the Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) website (the Site), https://www.frdr-dfdr.ca/, and the services available on or at the Site (taken together, the Service), including eligibility of deposit, roles and responsibilities, and rights and ownership of Content submitted to the Service. This policy should be consulted in accordance with the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, the Glossary of Terms, and any other relevant policies.

2.0 Eligible Submitters

The Service accepts Content from Principal Investigators (PIs), or their sponsored designates, from any and all domains or subject areas. PIs must be a faculty member, librarian, or community-based researcher at an eligible Canadian institution or organization. Eligible Canadian institutions or organizations are those eligible to apply for Tri-Agency funding, including Indigenous Not-for-Profit organizations eligible for SSHRC funding and other Indigenous organizations which may be eligible for provisional or restricted SSHRC institutional eligibility (see NSERC-eligible, CIHR-eligible, and SSHRC-eligible institutions and organizations). Indigenous groups, including Nations, communities, and organizations, are encouraged to contact the Service to confirm their eligibility to Submit Content.

PIs can sponsor designates, for example, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, external collaborators, and research support staff to submit Content to the Service. Requests for deposit from Canadian Federal or Provincial departments or agencies will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

3.0 Moderation of Data

All Content must adhere to the Collections Development policy and will be subject to curatorial review to check the submission for completeness and accuracy to ensure that it can be reasonably reused by an informed third party. Disagreements between Submitters and Curators in the curation process will be mediated by the Portage Service Manager.

Curators will assess Content using the following criteria as a guide:

• Metadata to support data citation and discovery;
• Adoption of recognized metadata standards;
• Data documentation, e.g., describing data using both domain-relevant and generalized terminology so that others may understand how and why the data, code, models, etc. were produced;
• Linking research data documentation to author PIDs (e.g., ORCIDs) and, where relevant, grant information;
• Linking research data documentation to other research products, e.g., data management plan, data paper, journal article;
• Technical review, e.g., analysis of scripts and codes, ensuring that descriptions of any data cleaning, de-identification, or quality assurance processes are documented and included in the submission;

4.0 Responsibilities

The Submitter is responsible for reviewing the Terms of Use and any other relevant policies, including the Submitter's own institutional policies, and ensuring that Content complies with these policies and is suitable for open dissemination. The Submitter is responsible for completing their deposit(s) within FRDR. Any deposit that remains unfinished or incomplete for a period exceeding one year will be subject to deletion following one (1) year of inactivity.

Submitters are responsible for participating in the Curation process, including responding to queries from Curators about the Content. Submitters are expected to make good faith efforts, as appropriate, to improve the submission in accordance with guidance from Curators. Such proposed improvements may include identifying the least restrictive licensing options, or other modifications to the submission to make the Content more FAIR https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/.

Curators are responsible for taking reasonable steps to review and approve Content such that it adheres to the Collections Development Policy, and the data quality standards described above. Curators will take reasonable steps to identify Personal Information contained in Content; however, Curators are not responsible for ensuring that the Submission is free from Personal Information. Submitters are solely responsible for ensuring that Content is suitable for open dissemination, and that it complies with these Terms of Use, the FRDR Collections Development Policy, research ethics approvals, and applicable laws.

The Service is responsible for ensuring the successful ingest, secure storage, indexing for search and discovery, and accessibility for download of Content. The Service is not responsible for omissions, mistakes in the data, or legal infringements (i.e., applicable privacy or copyright laws). Upon receipt of notification that Content infringes on copyright or privacy laws or any other applicable legislation, the Service will review and, as appropriate, remove the Content but retain the metadata landing page with an explanation for why the Content is no longer available. (see Data Retention and Deaccession Policy)

5.0 Embargo

Submitters may request that Content be embargoed for a period after which point the Content will become publicly accessible. Except in special circumstances pending approval by the Service Manager, the embargo period should not exceed one year. Curators will be responsible for reviewing and granting embargo requests. Reasons for granting an embargo could include:

• If making Content publicly accessible would jeopardise a forthcoming publication, thesis, dissertation, etc.
• If immediate release of the Content would violate institutional ethics approvals
• If the immediate release of the Content would cause potential harms to research subjects (e.g., human participants or species at risk data)
• If the release of the Content could jeopardize the intellectual property of an industry partner

Submitters will receive a notification via email one month before the embargo is set to expire that will include an option to request an extension. Failure to respond to this message will result in the automatic release of embargoed Content.

6.0 Rights and Ownership

Submitters and their licensors retain all ownership rights to their Content. By submitting Content to the Service, Submitters will be asked to consent to the Terms of Use which grants FRDR a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service. This includes, but is not limited to, the creation of copies, back-ups, and alteration of the data for the purposes of preservation. The Submitter further authorizes the Service Host to migrate the Content to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation.

7.0 Implementation and Revision

Policy enters into force on the date of its adoption. It will be reviewed every two years or at any time, as required.

Last Revised: 2024-03-27