Observation Data Use Policy and License Agreement

Access conditions, embargo periods, and rules for using KazVO data.

Document date:

Observation Data Use Policy And License Agreement

1. General Provisions and Legal Status of Data

This regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "Policy") constitutes an official public offer. This document defines the legal status, storage conditions, differentiation of access rights, and distribution of digital datasets of observational data obtained using the instrument base and computing facilities of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute (hereinafter referred to as the "Institute").

Registration of an observation request on the KazVO portal signifies the Customer's full agreement with the terms and conditions of this Policy.

Legal Regulation: The legal status of data is differentiated depending on the status of the Customer:

  1. For regular employees of the Institute performing observations within the framework of approved plans, all primary (raw) observation data and the results of their primary calibration are recognized as a work made for hire in accordance with Article 14 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Copyright and Related Rights". Exclusive property rights to these data arrays belong to the Institute.
  2. For external Customers (including foreign and commercial ones), the legal regime of data provision, processing, and publication is regulated by Chapter 33 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (" there is a contract for provision of services for compensation") and is determined by the terms of this public offer (Policy) or an individual Agreement for provision of services. Physical media and digital data files obtained on the equipment of the Institute are recognized as the property of the Institute, unless otherwise expressly provided by the accompanying Agreement, and the Customer is granted exclusive rights for targeted use during the embargo period.
  3. Rights of the Principal Investigator (PI): The Principal Investigator (hereinafter referred to as the PI) officially specified in the approved application is granted the monopoly right to process, analyze, and first publish scientific results obtained on the basis of the specified materials during a fixed embargo period (Proprietary Period).
  4. Continuity of Rights (Inheritance): In the event of a documented impossibility of the PI to perform their functions (dismissal, prolonged disability, lack of communication), the right of authorized access to data and the right of priority publication pass to the person specified in the application as the Co-PI. In the absence of a Co-PI in the application or their unavailability, the rights of data administration return to the Institute represented by the authorized Scientific and Technical Council.

2. Access Modes and Classification of Archive Data

To ensure integration with international IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) protocols and automated management of access rights at the level of the Institute's local DBMS, a strict classification of data is introduced, as presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Access Modes and Categories of Archive Data in KazVO

Data ClassData CategoryEmbargo PeriodStatus in KazVO after Embargo
AStandard scientific observations
(Program applications, point and extended objects, standard spectral and photometric sets)		12 months
(From the moment of registration in the electronic archive)		Public
(Full open access to data arrays)
BMonitoring observations
(Short-term and medium-term regular programs, transients, variable objects)		Up to 36 months
(From the moment of registration in the electronic archive)		Public
(Full open access to data arrays)
B+Long-term monitoring projects
(Sky surveys, multi-year sessions, international collaborations)		Up to 60 months
(Fixed by agreement of the parties prior to the start of the program)		Public
(Full open access to data arrays)
CStrategic / Commercial data
(Data in the interests of third-party departments, commercial orders, applied monitoring of near-Earth space)		Indefinitely
(The Customer possesses exclusive rights)		Restricted / Unlisted
(Data are completely isolated; metadata are published only by agreement)*

*Note to Class C: Data of this category are fundamentally excluded from the cycles of automated transfer to public access status. The procedure for their permanent storage, encryption, processing, and full or partial disposal is regulated exclusively by individual contracts and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) between the Institute and the Customer.

3. Procedure for Calculating Terms and Automation of Archive Processes

  1. Trigger Event: The calculation of the embargo period (for Classes A, B, B+) begins automatically at the moment of registration in the electronic archive — the assignment of the status of verified archive data to the primary data package with the recording of the system time in the local DBMS.
  2. Extension of the Term: The PI has the right to submit a reasoned application to the Scientific and Technical Council for the allocation of observing time requesting an extension of the embargo (changing Class A to Class B or B+). The application must be submitted electronically to the KazVO email address no later than 15 calendar days prior to the scheduled date of data release. If the specified deadline is missed, the KazVO system transfers the data status to the Public category automatically; cancellation of the operation is technically impossible. The Institute bears no responsibility for the automatic disclosure of data resulting from the untimely submission of the application by the Customer, except for cases of documentarily confirmed technical failures on the side of the KazVO service or circumstances of insurmountable force (force majeure).
  3. Internal Data Audit: Data of Classes A, B, B+ under embargo are accessible exclusively to the system administrators of the archive for quality control and verification. Unauthorized use of proprietary data by the Institute's employees for the preparation of publications prior to the expiration of the embargo period is prosecuted in accordance with the rules of academic ethics and the internal regulations of the Institute. Employees of the Institute (with the exception of telescope operators at the moment of shooting) do not have access to Class C data.

4. Metadata Release Mode

  1. For data of Classes A, B, B+, the Institute applies a policy of immediate disclosure of metadata. FITS file headers (containing the keywords OBJECT, RA, DEC, EXPTIME, DATE-OBS, and PI) are imported into the open relational tables of the KazVO database immediately.
  2. The disclosure of metadata pursues the goal of minimizing the duplication of identical observations on the instrument base of the Institute and does not imply the provision of access to the pixel matrices of images or spectra.
  3. For Class C data, a mode of complete isolation applies: metadata are not published in open registries and are not transmitted to international IVOA services, unless expressly provided otherwise in the Agreement.

5. Procedure for Using Open Data and Citation Rules

After the data are transferred to the Public status, they are distributed under the international license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Any commercial or non-commercial use of data from the KazVO open archive obliges the end User to strictly adhere to the rules of academic citation:

  1. The original program identifier (Program ID) and the name of the Principal Investigator (PI) must be preserved in the metadata of derivative files and in the text references of publications.
  2. The bibliography of the scientific work must include the core paper describing the configuration of the Institute's instruments (or partner observatories) or the KazVO digital infrastructure.
  3. The "Acknowledgments" section of the published work must strictly include the following standardized text: “This research has made use of the resources, data, and/or services of the Kazakhstan National Virtual Observatory (KazVO), supported by the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute and being a member of the IVOA.”

6. Responsibilities and Obligations of the Customer

Upon verification of the application, the PI bears personal legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided (including the correct specification of grant funding and affiliation of the parties). All automated notifications of the KazVO system sent to the verified e-mail of the Principal Investigator are recognized as proper notification of the upcoming data release.