Terms and Conditions for the Use of Sinharaja tree Data

Data Request: In order to access the 25 ha Sinharaja Forest Dynamics Plot data, a ‘Data Request Form’ must be completed. This form requires that the applicant and his/her co-investigators agree to comply with the ‘Terms and Conditions’ for the use of Sinharaja Forest Dynamics Plot data as described here.

i. Data use: Prospective investigators must provide a brief description of the intended use of the data in the Data Request Form.
ii. Separate request form for a new project: The prospective investigator should submit a separate Data Request Form for each substantially different project.
iii. Co-authorship: Prospective investigators must discuss co-authorship with the Sinharaja PIs if their publication derives directly from analysis of their hard-collected data and thus forms a reasonable contribution to a manuscript. The Sinharaja PIs reserve the right to request co-authorship.
iv. Contribution to in-country capacity building and logistic support: Prospective investigators should list ways that they might be able to assist in or contribute towards: a) capacity building for Sri Lankan researchers (e.g., transfer of technical/analytical skills, training etc.), and b) the provision of consumables/equipment/software to support the Sinharaja research program.

Non-transferability: Prospective investigators are not permitted to share the Sinharaja data with other parties not included on the Data Request Form.

Limitations to Use: Prospective investigators are not permitted to use the Sinharaja data for projects or analyses other than those explicitly described in the Data Request Form. A new Data Request Form must be submitted for any new use of the data. Prospective investigators are also not permitted to sell the data, or use them in any way for commercial gain.

Citation: Any publication that uses Sinharaja data should state the specific version number of the data set used for analysis. This version number will be provided after the data request has been approved.

Copies of articles: Copies of manuscripts should be sent to the PI managing the Sinharaja FDP database – Sisira Ediriweera (ediriweera2007@gmail.com) – prior to submission for publication. Once published, the PDF and any supplementary documents should be sent to: Sisira Ediriweera (ediriweera2007@gmail.com) [current PI] and Nimal Gunatilleke (savnim@gmail.com) [former PI]. Upon publication, a PDF copy of (or a link to) the article should also be sent to forestgeo@si.edu.

Acknowledgements: All publications that include the Sinharaja 25-ha plot data must acknowledge the institutions and funding that enabled the establishment of the plot and its continued maintenance with the following acknowledgement:

The 25-ha Long-Term Ecological Research Project at Sinharaja World Heritage Site is a collaborative project of the Uva Wellassa University, University of Peradeniya, the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, with supplementary funding received from the John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Foundation, the National Institute for Environmental Science, Japan, and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Germany, for past censuses. The PIs gratefully acknowledge the Forest Department, Uva Wellassa University, and the Post-Graduate Institute of Science at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka for supporting this project, and the local field and lab staff who tirelessly contributed in the repeated censuses of this plot.