What are the circumstances under which access to USGS-funded scientific data may be restricted from release? [014]

In accordance with the USGS Public Access Plan, effective October 1, 2016, as a general rule, all supporting research data that are USGS funded (that is, data collection was funded all or in part by the USGS) and approved for release in support of associated scientific information products must be freely available for public access at the same time as or before the information product is released. However, there are circumstances when access to or release of the USGS data is restricted because of security, privacy, confidentiality, or other constraints, or data mentioned in the published product are not used as a basis for the conclusions. In cases where access to or release of USGS data is restricted, a statement should be included in the information product indicating that data either are not available or have limited availability owing to restrictions. Refer to the FSP Guide to Data Releases With or Without a Companion Publication web page for additional information.