The policy below has been drawn up in the spirit of respect and inclusivity and is an expectation rather than a Rule of Procedure. It does not replace, or supersede, the rules/guidelines/conflict of interest policies or procedures in an individual’s place of employment or study. PICES participants who feel that they have been the recipient of a breach of the Code during a PICES event should raise this with their National Delegate who can inform Council.

PICES is committed to:

• Providing a welcoming and inclusive environment, that encourages all staff, members and guests to aspire to principles of integrity and respect in their interactions and to maintain a respectful environment free from harassment and discrimination (harassment includes speech or behavior that is not welcome or is personally offensive, regardless of intent).
• Respecting the human rights, and worth of all persons regardless of age, physical appearance, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or other group identity or political beliefs.
• Conducting the work of the Organization with integrity. Members should strive to encourage diverse voices and the full participation of all, not to misrepresent results, to not plagiarize and to appropriately acknowledge contributions of others.

As stated in Article III of the Convention for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) the Organization is to promote the collection and exchange of information and data related to marine scientific research in the North Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas.

The PICES strategy on capacity development identifies TCODE as the committee responsible for the development of communication networks for the exchange of data and information.

PICES is strongly committed to the open and free sharing and exchange of data and information between member countries and beyond. Thus, PICES also highlights the importance of sharing data as stated within the IOC data policy. “The timely, open and unrestricted international sharing, in both real-time and delayed mode of ocean metadata, data and products is essential for a wide variety of purposes and benefits including scientific research, innovation and decision making, the prediction of weather and climate, the operational forecasting of the marine environment, the preservation of life, economic welfare, safety and security of society, the mitigation of human-induced changes in the marine and coastal environment, as well as for the advancement of scientific understanding that makes this possible. Metadata, data and products should be accessible, interoperable and openly shared with minimum delay and minimum restrictions.” (IOC Oceanographic Data Exchange Policy, 2023). For any data provided to or shared with PICES, PICES will respect the ownership rights and any restrictions placed on these data by the data provider. Data, metadata and products compiled and produced by PICES expert groups and programs should meet the FAIR Guiding Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, Wilkinson et al., 2016) and in the case of indigenous data and information, data should meet the CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) to the greatest extent practicable. Data and metadata should be freely and openly shared with minimum delay and restrictions. PICES strongly encourages the cross-country sharing of data between PICES member countries when and where possible. Such open sharing of data in both real-time and delayed mode facilitates scientific research and innovation that benefits all PICES countries and the world. Data gathered as a result of PICES activities will be responsibly managed to guard against loss and to ensure continued discovery and accessibility into the future. The management of data using external data management systems is preferred to using internal PICES resources. Data should be quality controlled, accompanied by metadata and, when possible, it is to be stored in an openly accessible data repository and made accessible and discoverable through a web interface and machine-to-machine access protocols. PICES members shall, where possible, use IODE-approved data centers (National Oceanographic Data Centres, Associate Data Units and Associate Information Units), the World Data Service for Oceanography of the World Data System, or other openly accessible data centers including those linked to the IOC Ocean Data and Information System (ODIS) as repositories for oceanographic data and associated metadata (example list of repository options are listed in the “Open Data Repositories document”). In special cases where a suitable open-access data repository is unavailable, PICES expert groups will work with TCODE to find an alternative solution. Data include data, data products, information, services, and model outputs related to PICES activities. Metadata are data about data.
End users include a person, organization, group (including PICES expert groups) using data.
Data providers include a person, organization, group (including PICES expert groups) providing data.
Data inventory refers to data for which PICES has primary responsibility.
IODE Intergovernmental Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange
IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
ODISCat Ocean Data Information System Catalog of Services

• All data produced by PICES through various expert groups, summer schools, and research projects are considered to be publicly available unless explicitly specified otherwise.
• Results, conclusions, or recommendations derived from the data associated with PICES do not imply endorsement from PICES.
• Contributions of data from PICES expert groups will adhere to the expert groups’ Terms of Reference and be submitted to TCODE for inventory while the group is active.
• All data including metadata should be archived using standard codes, formats, and protocols. The quality control and quality assurance of data is the responsibility of the data producer.
• In the event that PICES becomes aware there may be quality issues in the data, PICES will inform the data providers as soon as practical.
• Data providers should inform the PICES secretariat of any policies that may place special conditions on use and redistribution of data.
• End users are responsible for the proper use of the data and metadata provided.
• PICES may reformat data or metadata for inclusion in data products but will never change the data provider’s original data record without consent.
• Data use must be acknowledged, preferably using a formal citation (e.g., Creative Commons).

Data citations should facilitate giving scholarly credit and normative and legal attribution to all contributors to the data, recognizing that a single style or mechanism of attribution may not be applicable to all data.
Where DOIs exist (Digital Object Identifier) they should be included in the citation. Wilkinson, M., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. et al. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Sci Data 3, 160018 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18
IOC Oceanographic Data Exchange Policy, 2023. https://iode.org/resources/ioc-data-policy-and-terms-of-use-2023/
CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance https://www.gida-global.org/care

A Special Project (hereinafter as the Project) is a limited duration project supported through voluntary contributions by a Contracting Party and conducted under the authority of PICES in support of the scientific mission of the Organization.

The Project welcomes the participation of all Contracting Parties in accordance with the principle of equity, given due consideration of the interests and balance between PICES and the proponent.

The Project will use the existing mechanisms of PICES with the objective of minimizing any additional workload in the PICES Secretariat which cannot be compensated through the overhead retained by the Organization from the project funding.

The ownership of the outputs of the project, including materials, data, copyright and intellectual property rights shall be specified in the Project Proposal.

For the purposes of evaluation, approval and implementation, Projects will be divided into two categories:

• Projects with budgets below CAD $50,000.
• Projects with budgets of CAD $50,000 or above.

• The proponent shall provide the Project Proposal.
• Projects with budgets below CAD $50,000 will be evaluated and approved by the PICES Chair, Science Board Chair and Executive Secretary, with notification to the members of Governing Council.
• For Projects with budgets of CAD $50,000 and above, the following approval process will apply:
  • Science Board is responsible for reviewing and evaluating the Project Proposal and providing recommendations to Governing Council.
  • The Chair of Finance and Administration Committee and Executive Secretary are also required to review the Project Proposal, with a focus on financial aspects, workload and operational feasibility, forwarding recommendations to Governing Council.
  • Governing Council is responsible for approval of the Project. The PICES Chair will consult with all Contracting Parties for consensus to make a decision in accordance with PICES procedures.

• For Projects with budgets below CAD $50,000, the following management processes will apply:
  • Project funds will be deposited in the PICES Working Capital Fund.
  • The Secretariat is responsible for reporting on financial aspects of the Project to the Finance and Administration Committee, who provide recommendations to Governing Council.
  • The identified parent committee is responsible for reporting on scientific progress to Science Board, who provides recommendations to Governing Council.
• For Projects with budgets of CAD $50,000 and above, the following management processes will apply
  • Project funds will be deposited in a separate account.
  • The Secretariat is responsible for reporting on financial aspects of the Project to the Finance and Administration Committee, who provide recommendations to Governing Council.
  • A Project Science Team (hereinafter as PST) will be established, who is responsible for the detailed planning and execution of the project, and reporting on scientific progress to the identified parent Committee.
  • Science Board is responsible for recommending the members of PST, with the agreement of relevant Committee(s). If the Project does not have members from all PICES Contracting Parties, then any Contracting Party who does not have a member on the PST will have the opportunity to name a member or provide a statement declining this opportunity
  • A representative of the proponent organization may serve as a co-chair of the PST.
  • The Secretariat may designate certain personnel to take responsibility for the Project implementation and financial management, as well as keeping close contact with the proponents.
  • Science Board or the designated parent Committee will take responsibly for oversight of the scientific activities of the Project, and to review the reports.
  • Science Board is responsible for reporting to Governing Council on the progress and achievements of the Project. The Finance and Administration Committee is responsible for reporting to Governing Council on the financial and management aspects of the Project.

• The PST shall submit scientific reports of the Project to the relevant Committees, Science Board and the proponent agency.
• Science Board is responsible for reviewing the scientific report and reporting results to the Governing Council.
• Governing Council will approve reports as part of the normal process for approval of the PICES Publication plan.

• Is the paper/volume of very broad interest in the scientific community? Science Board to make this determination.
• Does the paper/volume represent time-sensitive information that is sought after by a broad scientific community? Science Board to make this determination.
• Is the paper/volume a key output product of an Expert Group or PICES sponsored activity? Science Board to make this determination.
• Is the paper/volume a key output product of an activity carried out in collaboration with one of our strategic partners? Governing Council to make this determination, with input from Science Board.
• Is this a high priority for funding? Science Board shall assign a numeric priority to any requests.
• Is this affordable? Finance and Administration Committee to make this determination, in consultation with the Executive Secretary.