Under what circumstance may scholarly publications refer to unpublished data funded by a non-USGS organization? [015]

The preference is that all data referenced in USGS scholarly publications are made publicly available regardless of the funding source. In instances where the non-USGS funded data have not been made publicly available by the data owner, the USGS can suggest or request but cannot require the data be made publicly available (refer to SM 502.5, section 5.A about information owned by other Federal agencies). If non-USGS funded data are not made available, a statement should be included in the associated USGS information product. For example, (1) place the following in the acknowledgments or data availability section: “At the time of publication, data were not available from [the responsible non-USGS agency].” or (2) place the following as a footnote to the in-text citation: “[name, affiliation, unpublished data, year]¹ ... ¹ At the time of publication, data were not available from [the responsible non-USGS agency].”. Such statements indicate that at the time of publication, the data were not available from the responsible non-USGS agency. An example of this footnote text is available on the FSP Guide to Data Releases With or Without a Companion Publication web page. With the exception of restricted data as described in FAQ A.14, under no circumstances, should unpublished USGS-funded data be used to support the results and conclusions presented in scholarly publications. Refer to FAQ A.7 for additional information.