Addressing data property rights concerns and providing incentives for collaborative data pooling: the West African Vegetation Database approach

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AuteurJANBEN, THOMAS
AuteurSCHMIDT, MARCO
AuteurDRESSLER, STEFAN
AuteurHAHN HADJALI, K
AuteurHIEN, MIPRO
AuteurKONATE, SOULEYMANE
AuteurLYKKE, ANNE METTE
AuteurMAHAMANE, ALI
AuteurSAMBOU, BIENVENU
AuteurSINSIN, BRICE AUGUSTIN
AuteurTHIOMBIANO, ADJIMA
AuteurWITTIG, RUDIGER
AuteurZIZKA, GEORG
Date d'ajout2026-06-02T16:06:57Z
Date de disponibilite2026-06-02T16:06:57Z
Date de publication2011
ResumeQuestion: How can quantitative data from vegetation surveys best be assembled in a large regional vegetation database? What effects have intellectual property rights concerns of individual and institutional data holders on data contribution and how can incentives to contribute data be generated? Location: West Africa, with discussion of a possible approach to dealing with property rights concerns being of wider interest. Methods: The management of data property rights in the West African Vegetation Database was developed based on consultations with institutions and scientists in five West African countries over 2 years. It was agreed in two successive Memoranda of Understanding. Results: The West African Vegetation Database addresses property rights concerns by leaving the control over data access with the data owners, and provides incentives to build a distributed research community by fostering data sharing. Conclusion: We present a potential solution to the problem of intellectual property rights issues being an impediment to data sharing and the compilation of large regional vegetation databases. The data property rights management approach implemented in the West African Vegetation Database provided incentives for the contribution of recently acquired and unpublished data. Numerous phytosociological and dendrometric vegetation surveys have been made available by institutions and individual researchers for regional-scale analyses. The structures developed may serve as a model for regional-scale vegetation databases in collaborative settings involving multiple data owners.
Autre identifiantBECDB-3312
URIhttps://dspace.uac.bj/handle/123456789/3291
Languefr
Fait partie deJournal of Vegetation Sciences
SujetData property rights
SujetData sharing
SujetDendrometry
SujetIntellectual property rights (IPR)
SujetInventory
Sujetmodelling
SujetObservation data
SujetPhytosociology
SujetSub-Saharan Africa
SujetSustainable management
SujetVegetation data
SujetVegetation dynamics
TitreAddressing data property rights concerns and providing incentives for collaborative data pooling: the West African Vegetation Database approach
TypeArticle

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