Policy On Review, Publication, And Intellectual Properties

A. Progress Reports, Annual Reviews and Reports

1. Periodic progress reports will be required of all contractors. The frequency and complexity of these reports will vary according to the type of activity under contract, and will be determined by the Project Support Group (PSG).
2. Annual written or oral reports will be required for all JIP-supported contracts that last more than one year. The nature of the review will be scaled to the type of effort involved (workshop, laboratory research, data analysis, etc) as determined by the PSG. Annual reviews need only include data and analyses not seen in previous reviews. Contractors will not be required to produce an annual report that is so time-consuming that its preparation would impede progress on the work under contract. Annual reports will be reviewed by the Programme Manager, Technical Management Committee, and Technical Advisory Panel. No annual report will be required for projects that last less than one full year.
3. JIP reviewers may question the research methods used, results, or interpretations of results in annual reports, but may not censor, delay or prevent publication, nor threaten future funding in order to ensure compliance with their views. Contractors and their PSG must consider, but not necessarily adopt, all review comments that arise during annual reviews.
4. Disputes over methods, results or interpretations may be resolved in the presence of the Technical Management Committee and External Advisory Panel. However, the contractor’s decision on any issue will be final.
5. Any pre-publication release of products by the OGP or JIP (for example for internal newsletters or press releases) must be approved by the contractor.

B. Conference Talks and Posters

Contractors will prepare oral or poster presentations for conferences in consultation with the chair of their PSG only. Conference talks or posters may present any well-established results. If the PSG chair sees any results that might be a disadvantage to industry operations he or she will notify the Executive Committee beforehand to allow JIP partners time to adjust their policies or procedures before the material is released. The no-censorship clause (item A3) applies to conference talks and posters.

C. Final Project Reports

A final written report is required for all contracts. Researchers are encouraged to submit their final project report as a manuscript for submission to a peer reviewed journal. Regardless of the format of the final report, it will include all the relevant data that were collected. “Relevant” data excludes initial animal training trials, failed calibration tests, or other faulty or incomplete data that have no bearing on the final product. Whether a given data set has such bearing will be decided by the contractor in consultation with the PSG. All data submitted with the final report will be fully annotated, and all analytical methods will be fully described.

D. Publication (during or at end of project)

Most authors (as appropriate) must agree to submit their findings for publication to a peer-reviewed journal within one year of the close of the contract. Sixty days before any manuscript is submitted for publication, authors will submit it to the JIP for review, including any new data or analytical procedures not seen in previous reviews. Completed JIP reviews are due within 30 days to permit contractors time to consider them prior to submission for publication. Authors must fairly consider all review comments when preparing a final draft for publication. The no-censorship clause (item A3) applies to all publications.

E. Public Posting of Data

1. Two years after funding on a contract ends the researcher will post a full set of their annotated data on a public site to be named by the JKP (present candidates are U.K. Oceanographic Service, NESDIS, OBIS/SEAMAP) regardless of whether the data have been published by that time. If the data are not posted in a timely manner the JIP will post the data it received in the Final Project Report (Item C).
2. The JIP may not distribute or use the data from any contract until they have been publicly posted, or unless it receives the contractor’s approval to do so (Clause A5).

F. Intellectual Property

1. The JIP considers intellectual properties to include data, databases, interpretations of data, computer software, journal articles, talks or posters at conferences, inventions, designs, and materials subject to copyright. The JIP does not consider novel ideas expressed in research proposals to be intellectual property per se, but it treats such ideas as confidential and may not use or release them outside the JIP.
2. All intellectual properties resulting from JIP funded projects other than publishable data (databases, computer software, etc.) are to be distributed to the public as appropriate to their type. The method of distribution will be determined by the PSG in consultation with the contractor.