Data Usage Policy (February 5, 2009)

As a public service, the raw sequence data from the genome sequencing projects are being made available by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) before scientific publication. The purpose of this policy is to balance the imperative of DOE and JGI that the data from its sequencing projects be made available to the scientific community as soon as possible with the reasonable expectation that the collaborators and the JGI will publish their results without concerns about potential preemption by other groups that did not participate in the effort.

These pre-publication data are preliminary and may contain errors. The goal of our policy is that early release should enable the progress of science. By accessing these data, you agree not to publish any articles containing analyses of genes or genomic data on a whole genome or chromosome scale prior to publication by JGI and its collaborators of its comprehensive genome analysis. These restrictions will be lifted on the publication of the whole genome description or the expiration of a 12-month period after public release of the 8x assembly and draft annotation, whichever comes first. During this waiting period, the data will be available for any kind of publication that does not compete directly with planned publications (e.g. reserved analyses) of the JGI and collaborators. A principal collaborator or "champion," listed in the organsim's Info page and is the point of contact and arbiter regarding publication plans. Scientists are strongly encouraged to contact the principal collaborator and JGI about their intentions and any potential collaboration.

Reserved analyses include the identification of complete (whole genome) sets of genomic features such as genes, gene families, regulatory elements, repeat structures, GC content, etc., and whole-genome comparisons of regions of evolutionary conservation or change. Manually annotated genes within the Genome Portal are also reserved. Studies of any type on the reserved data sets that are not in direct competition with those planned by the JGI and its collaborators may also be undertaken following an agreement to that effect. Interested parties are encouraged to contact the the principal collaborator and JGI to discuss such possibilities.

If these data are used for publication, the following acknowledgment should be included: "These sequence data were produced by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute http://www.jgi.doe.gov/ in collaboration with the user community." We request that you notify us upon publication so that this information can be included in the final annotation.

The data may be freely downloaded and used by all who respect the restrictions in the previous paragraphs. While still in waiting period status, the assembly and raw sequence reads should not be redistributed or repackaged without permission from the JGI. Any redistribution of the data during this period should carry this notice: "The Joint Genome Institute provides these data in good faith, but makes no warranty, expressed or implied, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any purpose for which the data are used." Once moved to unreserved status, the data are freely available for any subsequent use.