HERBASE - GUIDELINES

Rules for the network functioning

1. Basic principle: data will be treated confidentially 

2. Each researcher who contributes data is a member

3. Data is first and primarily for the use of members

4. All members have the same right to propose manuscripts, request access to the full database or parts of it and be the lead author on research and papers

5. When requesting data, the request should inform what questions the proposed paper intends to answer and which data will be used. The request is sent to the database managers who them forward to all members. If the other members agree, they can respond yes or do nothing. We assume that all that do not respond to a request in two weeks are fine with sharing the data for the proposed paper. If any member does not agree with the proposed paper and prefers to not share her/his data, respective data and authors are kept out, but all the rest of the data is given access.

6. Each member, who contributed data to the database, will be able to read and contribute to the manuscript before submission and will be given opportunity to be co-author on all papers for which her/his data is being used

7. Leading author have final decisions on non-consensual matters raised during internal review, at which point co-authors can no longer request to not share data, but can request changes in “author contributions” status

8. Data will not be forwarded to anyone without prior consent

9. Raw plot data, i.e., species vs. abundance/cover matrix, should not be published in online supplementary material to protect the data of partners.

10. In general, plot data should not be visible separately, but focus on large-scale patterns. Exceptions should be clearly stated when requesting data.