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Figshare Policies

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Terms and Conditions
Data Access Policy
File Backup and Security Policy
Copyright and License Policy
Data Integrity and Authenticity Policy
Support Policy
Figshare Subprocessors
Inappropriate Content on Figshare
Does Figshare hold any personally identifiable information?

Privacy policy

Please see our privacy policy here

Please refer to the Privacy policy and you can adjust your cookies settings anytime here: https://figshare.com/cookie-settings (Also available as a link from the footer of any page)

Terms and Conditions

Please see the Terms and Conditions: https://figshare.com/terms

Data Access Policy

All publicly published content hosted on Figshare can be downloaded by anyone, with no need to log in. The content can be bulk- downloaded or mined using the Figshare API, depending on the licenses the author published the content under. For details and documentation on the Figshare API please head here https://docs.figshare.com.

Figshare accepts any file type and aims to make them all previewable in the browser. This allows users to preview and interact with the content even if they do not have the proprietary software required.

File Backup and Security Policy

Automatic backups of all figshare.com data files and metadata are performed nightly, directly to Figshare-managed Amazon Web Service (AWS) S3 buckets. AWS S3 versioning allows for the immediate restore of content in case of deletion of a file.

Amazon S3’s standard storage is:

  • Backed with the Amazon S3 Service Level Agreement for availability
  • Designed for 99.999999999% durability and 99.99% availability of objects over a given year
  • Designed to sustain the concurrent loss of data in two facilities

AWS S3 content is region bound and in order to recover from an AWS EU region failure, Figshare is exploring additional AWS Cross Region Replication options.

We have adopted a CC0 licence (license) as the default tool for researchers to share their datasets.

We understand that it is difficult for researchers to know whether research data is subject to copyright law and so, all datasets (by default) are published under CC0. This therefore removes any legal doubt about whether researchers can use the data in their projects. However, please note that under a CC0 license, researchers are not obliged to cite the source of the dataset.

Figshare realises that publishing under a CC0 license is not always ideal and in order to ensure that you get credit for your research data, we have also enabled the option to publish under a CC-BY law. For more details, please visit the ‘How to choose a license’ section in the ‘Adding or editing metadata’ page.

For more information please also visit the following:

Metadata

All metadata published by Figshare.com are available free of restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Client repositories may have overriding terms as set out in the T&Cs link in the footer, but the default is CC0.

While we encourage citing of all reuse of academic information, the CC0 copyright waiver is as follows: The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

Data Integrity and Authenticity Policy

All users that wish to create items or upload data to Figshare must provide a valid email address in order to create an account. Furthermore, users can link to their ORCID (https://orcid.org/) profile to their account for further identification.

Version control is supported for both the files and metadata of all published content. On each landing page, previous versions are displayed and accessible where applicable.  Please see the following example: https://figshare.com/articles/Mythical_creatures_of_Europe/963443. Under each file or set of files, Figshare has a section describing how to cite the object, complete with DOI and a timestamp, illustrating when the files were accessed by the cited.

MD5 integrity checks are performed when the file is uploaded to Figshare and and are displayed alongside file previews on the record. The computed value is stored along with the other metadata for further checks. The default Figshare storage, Amazon AWS S3, performs regular, systematic data integrity checks as well (for more information, please see https://aws.amazon.com/s3/details/). DOIs are only issued when all mandatory metadata, set by DataCite (https://support.datacite.org/docs/metadata-quality#section-mandatory-properties), has been filled out.

Whilst figshare.com is not curated, we do moderate all data that is made public on the site.  Please see our Data Moderation Policy and Take-down Notice for more information.

Support Policy

Figshare provide the following Support Channels:

Web: Figshare clients and users can use the Figshare Knowledge Portal for documentation regarding platform usage. Support tickets can be submitted at any time, and tracked, via the Figshare support portal, this is available at support.figshare.com.

Email: Support tickets can be submitted via email to support@figshare.com and tracked on the Figshare support portal available at support.figshare.com.

We’ll endeavour to respond within 48 hours.

Figshare support hours: Support is available 8am – 4pm UTC, Monday – Friday, excluding public holidays. Email support inquiries may be submitted at any time.

Figshare Subprocessors

The following group and third party entities may be used in connection with Figshare products, including to provide hosting and infrastructure services and customer and technical support and which may therefore involve the processing of personal data:

‍

Affiliate NameLocation
Digital Science & Research Solutions LtdUK
Digital Science & Research SRLRomania

‍

Third Party Service Provider Name*Location
FreshdeskUS
Amazon Web ServicesUS (server location may differ)
BasecampUS
AsanaUS
ScalewayAmsterdam and Paris
TurnitinUS

*Please note that not all service providers will be used for every customer and third parties involved in the scholarly content infrastructure, such as content preservation network participants and DOI registration agencies, are not included.

When we bring on a new subprocessor who processes personal information, or we change how we use a current subprocessor, we will update this page. If you have questions or concerns about any of the above, we’d be happy to chat with you. Please contact us at support@figshare.com

For more information about personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.

Inappropriate Content on Figshare

The free figshare.com platform is for academic content from individuals that benefits and can be re-used by the research community. 

Figshare is an active member of COPE, adopting the common principles and ethics of the traditional academic community, and ensuring transparency and best practice.

Take-down notice

We maintain the right to take down any data that does not adhere to our Terms of Acceptable Use.

As per our terms, we are able to: remove or disable access to the infringing material. We will notify the content provider, member, or user that it has removed or disabled access to the material; and that repeat offenders will have the infringing material removed from the system and that Figshare will terminate such content provider’s, member’s or user’s access to the Service.

In order to publish content on the free Figshare platform:



  • content must be ‘Research Data’, this should be taken to mean non-traditional research outputs, i.e anything that is not a journal article such as figures, supplementary figures and theses.




 However, content must not:

  • have already been published, and therefore have an existing DOI
  • be copyrighted (if you are unsure please check with the publisher or owner)
  • contain sensitive information (for example: medical data and personal data as defined by GDPR, click here for more information

 Some examples of content that is inappropriate for the free platform are:

  • If you are promoting a product or linking to a page where you are selling things – it will be removed and your access to the free platform may be revoked.
  • It cannot be re-used by the academic community and is of no benefit to the academic community and therefore just for you or your organisation – it will be removed and your access to the free platform may be revoked.
  • Content that you do not own. Do not upload content such as journal articles that do not belong to you – it will be removed and your access to the free platform may be revoked.

 If you are a fan of Figshare functionality, but want to use it for content that does not adhere to the above guidelines, our commercial offerings allow for creation of a repository that belongs to you. If you would be interested in our annual license fees, please email info@figshare.com.

Does Figshare hold any personally identifiable information?

We only record non-sensitive information such as name, email, employer or institutional affiliation and research activities – the information you provide to us. We take steps to protect your information, consistent with the principles set forth in our Privacy Notice, which are intended to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and Safe Harbor Principles issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce – please note that this will be updated to comply with the GDPR in May.

Our philosophy

It’s important to emphasise that at Figshare our main goal is to help you to disseminate your research. To find out more, please see our about page with our core beliefs.

If you have any question or concerns, please get in touch at support@figshare.com

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