The following are Ag Data Commons’ provisional terms of service, which are adapted from (i) Data Dryad, and (ii) other federal agencies operating digital repositories. Data Dryad’s terms of service are available under a CC-BY 3.0 license. Please adhere to the following until comprehensive terms of service for Ag Data Commons are formally released.

I. Binding Agreement

By submitting content to, or using content from the Ag Data Commons repository, submitters and users enter into a binding agreement to accept the Terms of Service described herein. If you do not agree to these Terms of Service, please refrain from using content from or submitting content to the repository.

II. Disclaimer

II.a. Liability: For documents and software available on Ag Data Commons, the U.S. Government does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed. All content is provided “as is.” Ag Data Commons makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, (i) implied warranties of accuracy, quality, performance, compatibility, merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose, (ii) that any such content, dataset or other material is free from personally identifiable, sensitive, infringing or illegal data or material, and (iii) that any such content not suffer loss, corruption or destruction. While Ag Data Commons tries to ensure that its repository, website, and software are safe from bugs, viruses, disruptions and delays, Ag Data Commons does not represent or warrant that they will always be so.

II.b. Endorsement: Ag Data Commons does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services. The views and opinions of authors expressed on Ag Data Commons’ web sites do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Government, and they may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

II.c. External Links: Some records in Ag Data Commons point to external sites where users can access data and related tools falling within the scope of the repository. Ag Data Commons is not responsible for the content of these external sites and cannot guarantee that desired data will be available. Ag Data Commons does not endorse, warrant, or guarantee the products, services, or information described or offered at these other Internet sites. It is the responsibility of the user to examine the copyright and licensing restrictions of linked pages and to secure all necessary permissions, as well as to verify the suitability of external resources or data for the desired use.

II.d. Pop-Up Advertisements: When visiting Ag Data Commons, your web browser may produce pop-up advertisements. Ag Data Commons does not endorse or recommend products or services for which you may see a pop-up advertisement on your computer screen while visiting our site.

II.e. The Ag Data Commons team may modify user-submitted metadata in order to ensure that datasets are described according to best practices. Additionally, we may work with data submitters to generate standards-compliant data dictionaries and improved machine-readable files. Unless otherwise noted, the Ag Data Commons team will not modify original data files.

III. Content Usage

Ag Data Commons content is offered "as is" and carries no warranty regarding its accuracy, currency, or suitability for any purpose. By downloading files, you agree to these Terms of Service.

It is expected that users will follow accepted scholarly norms for citing data and giving credit to fellow researchers. Even for data that are in the Public Domain, appropriate acknowledgment of sources is expected. The desired format for links to the dataset is the fully resolvable Digital Object Identifier (DOI) URL (e.g. https://doi.org/10.123/ABC/123).

IV. Expressions of Concern, Retraction and Removal of Content

Those who wish to see content in the Ag Data Commons repository taken down, either for copyright infringement, because of privacy concerns, or for other legitimate cause, should contact nal-adc-curator@usda.gov. Provide the following in your message: 1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; 2. Identification of the work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site; 3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material; 4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted; 5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law; 6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.