CODE OF CONDUCT
ForestPlots.net aims to promote sustainable and equitable collaborations among tropical forest researchers across the world. Our code of conduct therefore aims to ensure co-operation and trust among participants and support the long-term future of ForestPlots.net to ensure the full potential of this collaborative endeavour is released.
Collaborate
All data curated through ForestPlots.net are proprietary and remain the exclusive property of plot data owners (the Principal Investigator team). By accessing or using such data, users acknowledge and agree to uphold equitable collaboration standards, and to maintain the confidentiality and security of the data as outlined below.
Data users of ForestPlots.net will:
- Discuss with the data owners, including principal researchers, project grant holders and field leads (plot PI team), the research question, and involve them in the analysis, writing, and co-authorship of results.
- Obtain the explicit consent of the relevant data owners (plot PI team) before submitting any work for publication that uses data that are not publicly available: the transfer of any data does not imply the transfer of rights to publish those data or their derived products.
- Maintain the confidentiality and security of the data and agree to:
- Never publish, submit, share, or otherwise make available plot locations at high-resolution (i.e. >2 decimal places, or <1 km resolution) with ANY artificial intelligence (AI) system or person, even if requested by others including in publication review and post-review processes.
- Never expose or submit data to an AI system, whether provided free or not, unless that system is demonstrably verified to uphold stringent standards of data privacy and security and maintains a clear, explicit policy confirming that user-submitted data are never retained, sold, or utilised for training or for any secondary purposes, now and in perpetuity.
- Not transfer, share or redistribute data curated through ForestPlots.net to other persons, AI systems, machines or locations.
- Never provide or submit to an AI system or share with any other individual their ForestPlots.net username and password.
- Ensure that all co-author contributions are clearly defined in any publication using any ForestPlots.net data, including all who were responsible for conceiving the idea, designing the study, collecting the field data, managing the data, performing analyse, contributing materials or analysis tools, and writing the paper.
- Cite ForestPlots.net (see ‘How to cite’) in all publications that use any data or information obtained through ForestPlots.net, including publicly available data.
Data Managers commit to the following:
- Implement and maintain rigorous data quality control procedures for all measurements and nomenclature at each stage, including field collection, data entry, and final database verification, under the oversight and responsibility of the Principal Investigator(s) for each site.
- Ensure that AI systems are not used to alter, modify, or otherwise edit original field measurements within the database, thereby preserving the accuracy and integrity of the data.
Contribute
ForestPlots.net relies on contributions of high-quality forest plot data and funding. To protect the rights of partners who have worked for years for their hard-won data, ensure that these data become part of the scientific process, and develop a sustainable and equitable Pan-Tropical Forest Observatory:
- Data users will build our partners and ForestPlots.net into their funding proposals from the start.
- Leaders of multi-site research proposals and analyses will invest in network development, by: (1) funding recensuses and new, high-quality plots and/or (2) contributing to the costs of database management and functionality, and whenever possible (3) uploading their own data to ForestPlots.net.
- Institutional requests for data curated within ForestPlots.net will contribute towards the cost of maintaining the database resource and of forest measurements and technical training.
- Global North, commercial and other well-funded institutions will contribute substantially, reflecting greater access to research funding opportunities.
Make an impact
We all have a responsibility to promote equitable long-term collaborations, respond to the nature and climate crises, and help ForestPlots.net support forest conservation and management in the tropics. All users therefore will:
- Support analyses led by tropical scientists, including under-represented groups.
- Mentor junior participants to develop Masters and PhD theses.
- Promote leadership by individuals and institutions in tropical forest countries.
- Invest in research institutions in tropical forest countries.
- Consider the need for international travel for conferences, fieldwork and policy engagement, by combining visits or extending stays, using online solutions and supporting in-country leadership.
- Ensure that ForestPlots.net research findings drive national and international policies to reduce deforestation and degradation and increase the value of biodiversity.
Please note that we regularly review and update our Code of Conduct. By agreeing to our Code of Conduct you agree to respect the current version as displayed here.
