Data Management Policy of
                               The Virginia Coast LTER
          
          
          Objectives:
          
               The  Virginia Coast Reserve Research Data Management  System 
          (VCR-RDMS)  was  established to provide a means  of  distributing 
          data  among scientific research projects and to provide  archival 
          storage for data collected by VCR-LTER researchers.
          
          Quality Assurance
          
               The  responsibility for quality assurance (both in data  and 
          documentation content) rests with the principal investigator  who 
          submits the data to the VCR-LTER database. To facilitate  quality 
          assurance, the data management staff will provide printed  copies 
          of  data and documentation submitted by a principal  investigator 
          to that investigator upon request.
          
          Submission of data:
          
               All data collected during a calendar year must be  submitted 
          to the VCR-LTER data manager prior to June first of the following 
          year.  Data  must be submitted with standard VCR-LTER  forms  de-
          scribing  the format and content of the data.  These  forms  will 
          include  a  list  of persons that have permission  to  make  data 
          available to others during its protected period (see below). 
          
               The data management staff will take steps to assure that the 
          data  remain physically intact and accessible by  implementing  a 
          high-quality program for long-term archival storage.
          
          Data Access:
          
               At  time of data submission, a Principal  Investigator  must 
          specify a date (not further than 2 years in the future) when  the 
          data  can be made publicly available.  During a protected  period 
          (between  when  a  data  set is submitted  and  when  it  becomes 
          publicly available), all rights to control access to the data set 
          are  retained by the principal investigator associated with  that 
          particular  data  set.   In  the event  that  a  more  protracted 
          protected period is needed, a principal investigator may petition 
          the VCR-LTER governing committee (currently composed of all  LTER 
          principal investigators) for a longer protected period which  may 
          be granted by a simple majority vote. 
          
               Except  by permission of the VCR-LTER  governing  committee, 
          release  of data (public or protected) is limited to  individuals 
          and  institutions  engaged  in  bona  fide  scientific  research.  
          Individuals  and  institutions utilizing data from  the  VCR-LTER 
          database should properly acknowledge the contribution made by the 
          VCR-LTER  and  supply the VCR-LTER with  copies  of  publications 






          resulting  from  the  use  of  VCR-LTER  data.  A  fee,  covering 
          reasonable  costs  entailed in the distribution of data,  may  be 
          assessed.