Data submission

It is not required that data submissions follow rules in format or procedures but some hints might be helpful to minimize the preparatory work for upload to Pangaea. Submit data to mailto:info@pangaea.de keeping the following points in mind.

Data should always be accompanied by the following metadata:
 * Author(s); one author name (principle investigator) is mandatory
 * Data set title (equivalent to the title of a publication).
 * Source (e.g. name of institute).
 * Reference(s) if data are supplementary to a publication.
 * In case data are made citable through a data publication, a description of the data (extended abstract) must be added.
 * Documentation of data, methods, quality control etc.

Some hints when providing data:
 * Tables for import are TAB-delimited and saved as TEXT (ASCII), submitted as zip-archive.
 * Data are processed by a relational database and thus must be in machine readable form; any formatting is discarded.
 * Several data tables with different format should not be provided in one excel sheet but on different sheets.
 * Parameter name with unit (or parameter ID) should appear in the header line.
 * Data from tables as printed in publications should have the table number in the filename (if appropriate).
 * Use propper event/site/sample labels, e.g. as defined during an expedition.
 * Format for positions (lat/long) should be degree/decimal minutes (65°45.7'S) or decimal degree (-65.1234) (S and W are negative).
 * When providing links to documents, handles (hdl, doi, sref, urn) are prefered; URLs should be avoided.
 * Do not use any other characters than numbers in numeric parameter fields; exception see quality flags.
 * Columns with text parameters can be filled to a maximum of 255 characters per field.
 * If the result of a scientific analysis is zero, the corresponding field in the data table must be filled with 0 (and not left empty).
 * Fields without data should be left empty (NOT filled with '-', 'n/a', -9999 or '*' etc).
 * Data of several events with identical parameters may be prepared in one file: parameters in columns, events in lines.
 * Remove empty lines and columns; those will not be imported.
 * Avoid abbreviations.
 * Use the decimal point.

Work flow during data archiving & publication (make data available latest when the publication is accepted) Author or pinciple investigator (PI) is responsible for
 * 1) scientific quality of the data,
 * 2) preparation of import format including complete metadata,
 * 3) submission of data to the curator/editor of the project or institute,
 * 4) proof read,
 * 5) data set DOI may be used in publication as a reference/link to the primary data.

Curator is responsible for
 * 1) checking completeness of metadata and data consistency,
 * 2) technical quality control,
 * 3) import and check with Pangavista,
 * 4) password protection (if applicable),
 * 5) submit DOI to PI for proof read of data sets,
 * 6) make corrections, iteration between curator and author until the data set is OK,
 * 7) final publication.

 Example data sets given by DOI:
 * Moorings with trap/current meter
 * Vertical oceanographic profile
 * Horizontal profile/ships track
 * Horizontal distribution of irregular distributed samples
 * Vertical profile
 * Bulk sediment parameter
 * Core logging, Physical properties
 * Hole logging
 * Mineralogy
 * Grain size
 * Pollen
 * Geochemistry
 * Porewater
 * XRF
 * Horizontal profile
 * Sediment seismic (e.g. ParaSound)
 * Geophysical profile
 * Reflection seismic
 * Refraction seismic
 * Magnetic
 * Gravimetry
 * Bathymetry
 * Profile versus relative distance
 * Speleotheme
 * Coral
 * Time series
 * Radiation
 * Biological measurements
 * Binary object, e.g. photos, images, graphics, files in special formats
 * Maps
 * Experiments
 * ff ...