Using Nodes

Charges • Computation • Guidelines

Is there a charge for Nodes?

There is no charge associated with publishing or accessing a Node.

The read functions of Nodes and access to their content are architecturally designed to always remain free for humans and machines.

There may be charges in the future associated with large data preservation and premium features such as multiplayer node creation and computing functions from DeSci Labs Node gateway. Other gateways are free to implement their own policies.

What type of content can be posted on Nodes?

Nodes allows authors to post manuscripts, data, code or other research artifacts.

It is not allowed to post illegal or non-scientific content. For additional information, please read the Terms of Service.

What computational methods are provided?

We provide three types of computational methods to interact with data contained in a Node.

Note that each of these methods are under active development and experimental at this stage. Learn more about methods.

• Send compute to data: Send a containerized version of your program over to where the data lives and return the results.

• Send data to compute: Import Node components such as datasets and code into your local computer or high performance computing environment directly with Node PIDs.

• Nodes in-browser compute: A web-based integrated development environment to run compute jobs directly in a convenient web-browser interface.

Can I post manuscripts that are not in English?

We recommend you publish in english.

We strongly encourage all users to post content on DeSci Lab's Node Gateway in standard academic English. You are free to publish non-English manuscripts and content, but please be aware that this may limit the accessibility and usefulness of your work.

How long does it take for posted content to appear on Nodes?

Clicking the “publish” button in the applications means that the content is made available to be viewed and read by the public.

Any content added after a node has been published will not be available publicly until the new version of the node is published.

Who holds the copyrights for materials posted on Nodes?

Nodes allow authors to choose from a diverse set of Creative Commons licenses to publish their work.

For code components, we automatically pull the software licensing agreement from your Github repository.

Under these licenses, authors retain the copyright of their work, while allowing others to access and make use of it (at least non-commercially). A Creative Commons license has many advantages, including the possibility to publish articles elsewhere, improving the reproducibility of scientific research, and making valuable scientific products such as data and code reusable by other scientists.

Can I remove materials that have already been published on Nodes?

It’s complicated. For now, you should act as though the answer is "no"

Once the content is published, the data is mirrored on a distributed repository over three continents and five countries.

Can I revise or update materials posted on Nodes?

Yes. It's one of the core features.

One of the big advantages of using Nodes is that they support version control at the level of the data model and persistent identifier. Publishing new versions of a document will not overwrite the old version. The revisions or additions will simply be added to the research object. Even older versions of a paper can be specifically addressed and cited. Through this functionality, users can also browse through the version history of any material that is part of a Node and transparently track its evolution.

Can I post medical research on Nodes?

Yes, as long as you as the author ensure that the work you are posting complies with all relevant legal and ethical guidelines.

Note that the responsibility for compliance with legal and ethical guidelines lies entirely with the authors. For additional information, please refer to our Terms of Service and read “Can I post human subject data on Nodes”.

Can I post a hypothesis or study protocol on Nodes?

Yes.

We offer support for pre-registered reports and pre-registered analysis plans. We encourage authors to treat their Nodes as dynamic objects that evolve with time.

Can I comment on content posted on Nodes?

Not yet.

While we plan to implement a social layer in the future, we do not support commenting within individual Nodes at this time unless you are the Node's author.

Can I post human subject data on Nodes?

Data archived in Nodes are publicly available.

Any human subject’s data must be properly anonymized and prepared under applicable legal and ethical guidelines to be posted on Nodes. Be aware that authors are fully responsible for doing so. Please see our Terms of Service for additional information.

Dryad, the NIH, and the European Commission provide highly recommended guidelines on sharing human subject data. If your study has made use of human subject data, consider creating a restricted access data component. Restricted access data components could either contain the path to accessing this data as well the metadata in accordance with the FAIR principles. Alternatively, consider sharing your data in encrypted form, containing clear and complete instructions about how and under which circumstances users can obtain a decryption key. Note that encrypted data also need to comply fully with all applicable legal and ethical guidelines.

How can people find my Node?

The best way to ensure the discoverability of your Node is to include a standard academic manuscript that will be indexed by Google Scholar.

To ensure Google Scholar indexes your manuscript, ensure that it contains:

• The full text of your paper needs to be a a PDF file that ends with ".pdf",

• The title of the paper appears in a large font on top of the first page,

• The authors of the paper are listed right below the title on a separate line,

• Bibliography section titled, e.g., "References" or "Bibliography" at the end.

Google Scholar will then ensure that your Node is findable by others and track citations of your Nodes. In the future, Nodes will also be indexed by other indexing services.

Furthermore, we plan to develop the following:

• Node-to-Preprint platform: You can implant a QR code with a clickable PID link directly into your manuscript that securely redirects to your Node. You can then freely publish or update the current version of your manuscript on the preprint platform that matters to you community. This feature is under active development.

• Node-to-Publisher platform: We are in discussion with members of the publishing community to allow PID link / HTML widget embedding following the CrossMark model. Similar to funders, incentives are aligned, but we expect that it will take some time.

• DeSci Gateways: Gateways will surface curated Nodes and handle permissions for users on behalf of organisations.

Can I include images of individuals in my Node?

Unless you have specific permission from the person(s) being displayed, you cannot share images of individuals publicly.

The responsibility for the shared content lies entirely with the authors. Please see our Terms of Service for additional information.

Can I publish a Node when I am not an original author of the work?

Yes, you can. But please make sure you are not violating any license agreements.

When you publish a Node, you can declare that you are not one of the original authors. However, it is important to check the license agreements for all components you are publishing and make sure these are permissive enough for a re-publication.

Best practice for publishing a Node that is not your original work is to notify the original authors about this. We are currently developing a workflow for authors to claim authorship over Nodes that have been created on their behalf.