ScienceBase

Create a ScienceBase Community

 

What is a ScienceBase community?          CERC community example              

A community is a designated project space in ScienceBase to support a project or research application. The space will be displayed in ScienceBase as a folder, and can contain any number of child items, including individual records, folders, and links to ScienceBase items outside the community. A community (or specific folder within a community) can be private or visible to the public. Communities can store a collection of both public and non-public items to support in-progress research, management of shared resources, and the presentation of finalized data products. Editing permissions are limited to users associated with the community.

Well-managed ScienceBase communities should define the intent of the collection and are expected to have one or more designated data managers. Data managers outline the processes and expectations for content organization, and ensure that requirements for content within the community are met (e.g., consistent tagging, naming structure, etc.). USGS data publishing is expected to follow Bureau guidelines (more information below).

ScienceBase is a resource for USGS researchers and their collaborators. For more information about appropriate uses of ScienceBase, please see the ScienceBase user agreement

View list of ScienceBase Communities                                                                                         

Create a community

To request the creation of a ScienceBase community, please e-mail the following information to sciencebase@usgs.gov:

  • Community name
  • Community name acronym or short reference
  • Description of the community and its mission
  • Keywords, or tags, describing the community
  • Users associated with the community (full name, e-mail address, affiliation). These users will have editing permissions to the community.
  • Community manager(s) (full name, e-mail address, affiliation). Please specify at least one person or group email as the community manager. These users will serve as points of contact for the community. 
  • For non-USGS users working in partnership with USGS, at least one USGS employee should be listed as a community manager, who will also serve as a point of contact for the community.

Manage a community

Community managers can edit information about their community by selecting the “Manage” drop-down menu (on the far right side of the grey title bar) and then selecting “Edit."

For information about managing view and edit permissions for ScienceBase items, please visit this page. Community managers can give permissions to any user that has an Active Directory account. When a user logs in to ScienceBase for the first time with their Active Directory credentials, an account will automatically be created. Users outside the Department of Interior can request an account if they are collaborating with a USGS project and have a USGS sponsor. Here are instructions on how to create an account. 

USGS Data Publication Guidelines

USGS authors and community managers are expected to follow Fundamental Science Practices (FSP) requirements when publishing finalized USGS data products. For more information on the FSP guidance, please see the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Survey Manual (SM) Directives 502.4 - Fundamental Science Practices: Review, Approval, and Release of Information Products. To support FSP requirements and provide guidance to USGS data release authors, the ScienceBase data release team has developed a process for authors completing data releases in ScienceBase. For more information, please see the ScienceBase data release instructions.

 

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