How to request data from the TRY database
Data from the TRY database are shared among participants of TRY upon request, on the basis of the intellectual property guidelines for the TRY initiative. Participants are individuals who have either contributed at least 500 plant trait records OR formally presented a proposal for a modeling development. The access to data is easy, using the "TRY Proposal Application Form".
Intellectual Property Guidelines for the TRY Initiative (pdf)
TRY Proposal Application Form (doc)
Individuals or groups of individuals that would like to use the TRY database for a scientific project, such as a new modeling development, the testing of hypotheses about links between traits, etc., should submit a proposal to TRY, describing the aims, basic methods and the portion of the database they would require.
The first deadline for data contribution and proposal submission had been set set to 30. September 2008, to ensure that first results can be presented within the current period of funding for TRY from the IGBP (2006-2009). A new phase of data contribution and proposal submission will be initiated in spring 2009.
Proposals will be considered by the TRY Coordination and Advisory Board. These are not meant to judge the scientific quality of the proposals, but rather to make sure that (1) there is a reasonable link between objectives, expected outputs and data requested; and (2) that the rights of all parts involved are respected.
TRY will give the proponent the list of individuals (including data contributors, data managers and synthesizers, and conceptual contributors, according to each particular case) that will necessarily have to be contacted and consulted about data availability, work allocation, and authorship arrangements. The proponents will then submit a proposal agreement to TRY, approved by all the relevant contributors. TRY will then release the data to the authors of the proposal under the condition of (1) using them only in relation with the project contained in the proposal; and (2) not passing it to third parties.
No individual or group, including the coordination team, will have access to the whole TRY database through a single proposal.
If you would like to request data from the TRY database, please fill in a TRY Proposal Application Form and send it to Jens Kattge.
If you still have questions about using data from the TRY database,
please contact us!
