Appendix G: Data Policies

Data Policies

A. Purpose of this Policy and Responsible Individuals

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is an NNSA facility operated in support of national security and related missions. Experiments on the NIF generate data of broad national and international interest. These data arise in a variety of forms, including NIF performance information, raw data from target diagnostics, scientific data in the process of interpretation, and analyzed data ready for publication.

The purpose of this document is to provide policy regarding the handling and sharing of such data, and any publications generated from research programs connected to the NIF.

The term “Publication” is used in the broadest possible sense of the word, including conference presentations, abstracts, colloquia, patents, as well as peer-reviewed papers.

The objectives of this policy are threefold:
1. To provide a consistent framework for use and publication of data obtained from the NIF facility.

2. To ensure that data from NIF experimental campaigns are made available in a suitably protected manner to researchers involved in each experiment, and subsequently made available to the broader scientific community as appropriate.

3. To define data-handling responsibilities for the NIF facility and parties with access to NIF data, such that the integrity of NIF data is protected

The NIF publication policy is consistent with generally accepted guidelines for scientific conduct, including the right for individual researchers to publish their data results and analysis.

There is a broad diversity of the user communities utilizing NIF with a widely varying nature of the research activities, ranging from small, investigator-led experiments through to large-scale international campaigns spanning many years. While general guidance is provided herein, it is a fundamental tenet of this policy that responsibility for detailed implementation is vested in each of the program areas. This will ensure that execution of the policy conforms to the individual constraints of each program.

As such, it is the responsibility of the programs themselves to provide adequate mechanisms for administration of this policy, including a mechanism for resolving conflicts (disputes).

The following programs require specific implementation mechanisms for this policy:

  1. High Energy Density Stockpile Stewardship (SSP-HED);

  2. Inertial Confinement Fusion (SSP-ICF);

  3. Discovery Science (DS);

  4. National Security Applications (NSA); and

  5. Facility

B. Definitions

  1. Data

    This policy distinguishes between facility related data (“NIF facility data”) and data related to and from experiments (“NIF experimental data”). Appendix H contains a detailed definition of these data types. All data fall under the purview of this policy.

    This policy applies to NIF non-proprietary data. All such data is ultimately owned by the NNSA, and other sponsoring federal agencies or organizations if applicable.

  2. Principal Investigator (PI)

    The term “PI” is an accepted term regarding the role of the person responsible for the use of data obtained in a research project. PIs may be established for leading experimental campaigns, for developing new diagnostics or experimental techniques, or for developing other new experimental capabilities on the NIF. For the particular case of the NIF, the term
    “PI” applies whether data are obtained directly from an experimental campaign, or the result of scientific analysis of previously obtained experimental data being used in connection to the current campaign. The PI also has responsibility for the management and dissemination of numerical or theoretical analyses connected with data interpretation for a NIF campaign.

    There shall always be a single person identified as the PI with regard to the responsibilities laid out in this policy, even if for practical or technical reasons there are multiple senior investigators on a given campaign.

Program Publication Committees

Each Program active on the NIF is responsible for establishing a Publication Committee to implement this policy for its experimental campaigns. It is also understood that Program Publication Committees can include members from multiple laboratories and universities.

C. Policies and Responsibilities

  1. NIF Director Responsibilities

    With respect to NIF data, the NIF Director shall:

    1. Maintain this policy.

    2. Maintain the NIF database and provide data access consistent with DOE and NNSA policy, program guidelines, security considerations, and accepted principles of scientific conduct.

    3. Appoint a Program Leader for facility data.

    4. Ensure that each Program Publication Committee has defined and implemented a program-specific process for authorship, publication review and resolving publication disputes.

  2. Programs

    The primary organization or individual responsible for the data (meaning final authority for its utilization) is dependent on the program area, as follows:

    • SSP-HED, SSP-ICF, and Facility: Data owned by program leadership

    • DS: Data owned by the Principal Investigator

    • NSA: Data owned by the sponsoring organization

      All Programs will follow accepted principles of scientific conduct as described in Section I, and have the following responsibilities:

Oversight: The SSP-HED, SSP-ICF Programs and the Facility shall each appoint a Publication Committee (with a named Chair) to administer this policy with regard to data use and dissemination. This Committee will be responsible for developing, issuing and administering a program-specific policy for authorship, publication review and conflict (dispute) resolution. When Programs have participants from multiple laboratories, at least one representative from each laboratory shall be appointed to the committee. In addition, at least one NIF representative shall also be appointed to the committee, designated by the NIF Director through the NIF User Office.

The NIF User Office will work with leadership of the DS and NSA Programs to establish Publication Committees and program-specific data policies. Programs are accountable to the NIF Director for implementing this umbrella policy, for establishing Publication Committees and developing program-specific detailed publication policies. The Publication Committees shall be accountable to the Programs for implementing these specific policies.

  1. Principal Investigator: Each program shall appoint a PI for each experimental campaign executed on the NIF and ensure that the PI and their team are aware of their accountability. For large research programs, the programs may appoint multiple PIs for each phase of a campaign. The Roles & Responsibilities of the PI with respect to publication shall be established and documented prior to the start of the campaign.

  2. Authorship: Authors and co-authors will have made significant technical contributions that are specific to the publication which does not include routine operation of the NIF. Examples of significant technical contributions include the collection and reduction of key experimental data, novel aspects of target design and fabrication, application of new diagnostic techniques, and any other elements of fielding the experiments that go outside the boundary of routine operations. Specifically, these guidelines shall address:

• Seminal work of great significance to the HED community that may have several primary authors as well as a large group of additional co-authors who have made significant contributions. Publications with a primary author and a limited set of co-authors

• Coordination of publications based on new diagnostics and experimental techniques with the application of diagnostics and techniques to experimental campaigns

3. Principal Investigator Responsibilities and Interaction with Sponsoring Programs
In all instances, the PI shall adhere to any instructions from the sponsoring program with regard to management of the experimental campaign, data use, and dissemination. The PI shall also adhere to any instructions arising from the dispute resolution process.

With respect to NIF data, the PI shall:

  1. Oversee the preparation, execution and analysis of their experiment, and act as the senior point of contact between the NIF facility and sponsoring program.

  2. Ensure that the data are made available to an appropriate set of individuals, consistent with delivering the required information to the sponsoring program.

  3. Determine the appropriate author list for a given publication or presentation, consistent with program policy.

  4. Ensure that publication drafts are reviewed by the proposed authors, and others as determined by the program’s policy.

  5. Publish in a timely manner. To the best of their ability and consistent with Program policy, the PI shall identify likely publications and lead authors prior to the start of a campaign.

4. Data Access and Use

  1. Data access: Programs shall provide a list of members who require data access to the NIF User Office. These members will have access to all data (facility and experimental) associated with that Program.

  2. Data ownership: Programs shall have exclusive rights to the data from a given experimental campaign for up to 18 months. Any data published within this timeframe is released from exclusivity. In this context “published” refers to material that has been published in a peer- reviewed journal, or in a conference proceedings which is peer-reviewed. Beyond this period, each program shall provide a pathway for access to the data by a wider community of researchers, consistent with ensuring full value is extracted from NIF experiments, while maintaining appropriate need-to-know restrictions for sensitive data. On occasion, programs may extend the period of exclusive rights for certain data sets to ensure the integrity of the data analysis and publication process. If deemed necessary, such a request may be made to the NIF Director through the NIF User Office.

  3. Data access for NIF diagnostic Responsible Scientists: NIF policy is to provide the named Responsible Scientists (RSs) for each facility diagnostic with access to data from the set of diagnostics under their control. Acting in the role of a PI (see Section II.2), the RS will also be provided exclusive use of data for up to one year to allow time for presentation and publication of results related to the development, construction, and performance of the instrument. In this case the RS/PI is responsible for ensuring this is performed in a manner that does not impact publication efforts of a related PI’s team. The RS/PI shall inform the PI and the Program Publication Committee prior to submission of a publication to ensure that any disputes can be addressed prior to submission. Consistent with Section III.3, Diagnostic RS/PIs and Experimental PIs are expected to coordinate their efforts such that these data are published in a timely manner.

  4. Facility: With regard to the use and dissemination of “NIF experimental data,” there is no formal role for the NIF facility in experimental campaigns under the purview of the programs, except at the discretion of the PI or program. For facility publications and dissemination of  “NIF facility data,” the NIF Director or designee will assume the equivalent responsibility to a Program Leader, as detailed above.

  5. Theses: NIF facility and experimental data may be used in student theses prepared as a requirement for the granting of an advanced degree from a participating institution. Requests for data access shall be communicated through the NIF User Office. The User Office will facilitate agreements for data access and data use with affected programs such that all data rights and privileges are appropriately protected.

5. Publication Review and Release and Public Communication

  1. Review and release of NIF facility and experimental data: All NIF facility and experimental data to be published or presented outside of LLNL shall be approved via the LLNL Information Management process. Per the NIF User Manual, copies of all publications shall be provided to the NIF User Office prior to release.

  2. Public communication and press guidelines: The PI’s home institution has the right to issue the first public communication regarding NIF results. Such press releases shall be coordinated with NIF via the User Office. In the event the PI’s home institution does not choose to issue public communications, NIF or other members of the team involved may choose to do so, following the above policy.

D. Change Control

The NIF Director is responsible for this policy. Proposed changes to this policy shall be submitted to the NIF Director via the NIF User Office. The NIF Director is responsible for approving changes to this policy, and for appropriate consultation with external stakeholders. A record of changes shall be appended to future versions of this document.