1.1 The present Research Data Policy applies to NFFA-DI Data.
1.2 NFFA-DI is required to allow structured and open access to scientific and technological data, to amplify their impact and return on society and the economy, both globally and locally, as per Article 8 of Annex D of the project’s Decree of eligibility for funding.
1.3 NFFA-DI aims to become a fully FAIR infrastructure. The process of adapting to the FAIR standard begins with the instrumentation purchased, implemented, or integrated within the NFFA-DI project, eventually covering the entire catalogue available on the portal in the coming years.
2. Purposes
2.1 This policy aims to ensure that Research Data generated in the NFFA-DI project are managed and made accessible for use and reuse according to the objectives of the Piano Nazionale per la Scienza Aperta (PNSA) and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
2.2 This policy aims to ensure the long-term availability of scientific and technological data valuable for research, education and any kind of exploitation by individuals, governments, businesses or other organizations.
2.3 This policy aims to articulate the responsibilities of all parties involved in data handling with respect to the archiving and preservation of NFFA-DI Data.
3. Policy Statements
3.1 Data Management and FAIR principles
3.1.1 FAIR-by-design Managers must ensure that NFFA-DI Data are managed according to this policy and collected using a FAIR-by-design approach, following what outlined in NFFA-DI first-level Data Management Plan (NFFA-DI-DMP), detailed in Deliverable D1.2 and its subsequent updates.
3.1.2 Instrument Scientists must provide information on the management of the Research Data generated by the NFFA-DI Instruments they oversee, using the tool made available on www.nffa-di.it in order to automatically create the second-level Data Management Plan (Lab-DMP).
3.1.3 Each Principal Investigator whose Proposal has been approved within NFFA-DI can provide additional information through the EasyDMP tool connected to the portal, in order to complete the third-level Data Management Plan (Proposal-DMP) that is a merge of the Lab-DMPs involved in the experimental steps included in the Proposal itself. The Proposal-DMP available one year after the end of the access will be considered the final version.
3.1.4 NFFA-DI Data must be stored on OFED with specific access permissions for each user.
3.1.5 NFFA-DI Data must be stored using the NeXus data format and its related existing Application Definitions and Base Classes whenever possible. Any new Application Definition or Base Class proposed for a specific technique must be deposited in the GitHub repository and the corresponding link must be indicated within the information of the relevant instrumentation, in accordance with point 3.1.2 of this Research Data Policy.
3.1.6 NFFA-DI Data not stored in Nexus format must adopt a file format compatible with OFED services, in order for them to be interoperable and reusable.
3.1.7 Each accepted Proposal and In-house Research Project will have at least 10 GB available to store NFFA-DI Data in a dedicated bucket. Buckets related to Proposals will be created automatically on OFED as soon as the Proposals are accepted and will be named nffa-di_[proposal_id], while buckets related to In-house Research Projects need to be created by Instrument Scientists using the following naming convention: nffa-di_[UO]_[project_id], where UO is the acronym of the Operational Unit as defined at https://nffa-di.it/en/uo-acronyms-for-data-infrastructure-naming-convention and project_id is defined freely by local researchers.
3.1.8 Each file generated in the context of a Proposal stored on OFED must use the following naming convention: nffa-di_[proposal_id]_[UO]_[UO_internal_id], where the first part of the name adheres to the name of the bucket, UO is the acronym of the Operational Unit as defined at https://nffa-di.it/en/uo-acronyms-for-data-infrastructure-naming-convention and UO_internal_id is a combination of the technique/instrument acronym and an Experiment ID freely decided.
3.1.9 Each file generated in the context of an In-house Research Project stored on OFED must use the following naming convention: nffa-di_[UO]_[project_id]_key, where the first part of the name adheres to the name of the bucket, while key is arbitrary.
3.2 Open Access
3.2.1 NFFA-DI Data presented or discussed in Dissemination Actions must be made available in Open Access by the product release date, using a trusted repository able to assign a Persistent Identifier (PID). NFFA-DI strongly encourages the publication of Analysed Data and their relevant metadata as well.
3.2.2 NFFA-DI Data will be preserved on OFED for 3 years. After this period, all the data will be made available as Open Access through a trusted open data repository.
3.2.3 Metadata of NFFA-DI Data made available in Open Access should include information on the tools needed to reuse, validate or process the data (e.g. specific software or codes, algorithms and analysis protocols).
3.2.4 NFFA-DI Data made available in Open Access must be described on the chosen repository by indicating at least the following administrative metadata:
Brief description, Date of deposit and Author(s) of the Dataset
Funding: “Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, M4C2, within the PNRR project NFFA-DI, CUP B53C22004310006, IR0000015”
Proposal ID number (if applicable)
PID of related Dissemination Action and other research outputs (if applicable).
Researcher ID
3.2.5 NFFA-DI Data made available in Open Access must be distributed under the CC-BY (Creative Commons Attribution) license or another license with equivalent rights.
4. Definitions
Analysed Data: Identifiable Research Data resulting from the use of data analysis software, typically produced after the completion of an Experiment. Analysed Data is intended to present information.
Dissemination Action: public disclosure of research results via any pertinent medium (peer reviewed articles, conferences, book chapters, conference presentations).
Experiment: identifiable activity with a clear start time and finish time conducted by a researcher who uses one or more instruments to investigate or produce one or more samples and collects Raw Data about it. Experiment consists of (or includes – in case of sample preparation) one or a series of measurements. Experiments can be a computer simulation (computational experiment), or a combination of it with physical measurements.
FAIR-by-design Manager: person who is responsible for implementing the FAIR-by-design module within a specific Operational Unit. This individual ensures that the laboratories of that NFFA-DI Operational Unit adhere to the NFFA-DI Research Data Policy.
In-house Research Project: project conducted by one or more researchers working at an NFFA-DI Operational Unit, which involves using one or more NFFA-DI Instruments at the same Operational Unit to perform measurements on samples as part of one or more Experiments.
Instrument Scientist: researcher working at an NFFA-DI Operational Unit, who oversees a particular instrument.
NFFA-DI: PNRR project NFFA-DI (IR0000015 – CUP B53C22004310006), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, M4C2 and outlined in the Decree of eligibility for funding n. 411 of 27/10/2022 and annexes and the project Rectification Decree of 06/09/2024 and annex.
NFFA-DI Data: Processed Data derived from Raw Data generated by NFFA-DI Instruments, including associated metadata, during a Proposal or an In-house Research project.
OFED (Overarching FAIR Ecosystem for Data): the digital ecosystem built within NFFA-DI meant to collect, archive, visualize, share and analyse NFFA-DI Data. It is an organized system that allows users to access NFFA-DI Data in a structured (i.e. systematic and orderly) manner. It includes protocols, formats, and tools that facilitate the efficient and secure access, search and use of data.
Open Access: practice of providing online access to scientific information that is free of charge to the end-user and reusable. Open Access is granted by providing a suitable open License such as Creative Commons Licences.
Processed Data: Raw data that has been digitized, structured, organized, converted, translated, transcribed, cleaned, validated, checked, and/or anonymized. Processed Data is not the result of any analysis; the processing is solely intended to make the data usable.
Proposal: application submitted by a group of users, led by a Principal Investigator, seeking access to NFFA-DI facilities at an institution different from their own. This application aims to use one or more NFFA-DI Instruments to perform measurements on samples as part of one or more Experiments.
Raw Data: initial set of Research Data collected during an experiment by a researcher. These data are the primary and unchecked output of a measurement generated by a specific instrument, and it is recorded before any subsequent processing or analysis.
Research Data: information (particularly facts or numbers) collected to be examined and considered and to serve as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation in a research context. Examples of Research Data include statistics, results of Experiments, measurements, observations resulting from fieldwork, survey results, interview recordings and images. Research Data can be Raw Data, Processed Data or Analysed Data.