Sailing Towards Open Marine Data: the RITMARE Data Policy

A thorough understanding of marine and ocean phenomena calls for synergic multidisciplinary data provision. Unfortunately, much scientific data is still kept in drawers, and in many cases scientists and stakeholders are unaware of its existence. At the same time, researchers lament the time consuming nature of data collection and delivery. To overcome barriers to data access, the RITMARE project issued a data policy document, an agreement among participants on how to share the data and products either generated by the project activities or derived from previous activities, with the aim of recognizing the effort involved. The RITMARE Flagship Project is one of the National Research Programs funded by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research, coordinated by the National Research Council (CNR) and involving the whole Italian marine research community. The project's main goal is the interdisciplinary integration of national marine research. The objective of the RITMARE Data Policy (RDP) is to define common rules on how to access, use and share the information provided by the project for an improved understanding of the marine environment.