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The full text of the GBIF Recommendation on Open Access to Biodiversity Data is available here in PDF format.
Two of the goals of GBIF are to bring together data for multiple uses, and to find incentives and mechanisms to make data freely available as quickly and effectively as possible. One of GBIF's own guiding principles is that GBIF data should be openly shared.
Thus, the recommendation is, in part, "... that research councils, other funding agencies and private foundations:
- Promote that proposals for funding for biodiversity research include a plan for the maintenance and sharing of the digital biodiversity data generated in proposed projects;
- Promote that species and specimen level data and associated metadata that are generated in funded projects are made publicly available through mechanisms cooperating with GBIF, within a specified period after completion of the supported research."
In endorsing this statement, the GBIF Governing Board has joined the ever-growing ranks that encourage open access, including the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Ocean Biodiversity Informatics Conference and the Conservation Commons, among others.
The current GBIF Memorandum of Understanding states in paragraph 3 (Objectives),
article 3 (Involvement of the Participants) that each Participant should seek to (b)
promote the sharing of biodiversity data in GBIF under a common set of standards.
The recommendation contributes to implementing this article and is meant to
provide assistance to Participants who are building data sharing into research funding
processes.
An example is the Swedish Research Council, which plans to implement the recommendation. Two major US funding agencies, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, have had data sharing requirements in place for several years.
The digitization, maintenance and sharing of biodiversity data on the Internet is
daunting to some research groups. However, GBIF has developed expertise and tools
for data sharing which enable researchers to easily share their data through GBIF.
Also, services can be provided to researchers by organizations linked to GBIF. The
nodes of GBIF have developed a range of examples of how this can work in practice
in different situations and for different types of data. These nodes can provide
guidance and assistance where necessary. The list of GBIF nodes managers is
available at Nodes members on the GBIF Communications Portal.
Images courtesy of BioMed Central's Open Access Gallery.
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