Data Submission Guidelines
The information you share may be used in various risk assessments all over the world. In order for your data to be used, interpreted and cited appropriately, we ask you to please provide us with the following information. Basic supporting documentation (indicated in bold) is necessary for posting on the Clearinghouse. If you have any questions about the following guidelines, please contact the Clearinghouse at foodrisk@umd.edu. Please use this same e-mail address for sending the data and supporting documentation.
1. General information:
a. Complete name and correspondence address of principal investigator. Please indicate if you wish to be credited on the Clearinghouse, and if you would like your contact information to be posted with the data.
b. Study purpose, date of study, country of sample collection
c. Affiliation of principal investigator or data collectors; funding source
2. Methods section which clearly describes the study design. Please include as much of the following information as is relevant to your study:
a. Type of study (eg., food intake study, case control, human or animal feeding study, etc.)
b. Species studied (host, pathogen, etc.)
c. Seasonality of data collection
d. Laboratory methods (or cited methods) and their sensitivity, specificity and precision (if known)
e. Sample size
f. Sampling frame/sample selection (eg., use of randomization), and how sample relates to the population (eg., from a particular country, region or producer)
g. Conditions of data collection (field versus laboratory data)
h. Definitions of units being used
i. Validation techniques
3. Supplementary information. Please include as much of the following information as possible.
a. Publications using these data
b. If peer reviewed - by what organization
c. Investigator's evaluation of data
d. Investigator's recommended limitations of data
4. Data format: Data must be in an electronic format, preferably Excel or Access. If in a different electronic format, please contact us first to facilitate data transfer.
5. Variable description: All data must be accompanied by a key explaining the column headings (variables). Explanations must include the units of measure (e.g., ° C, mg, cfu/g, etc.).
6. Optional data summaries:
a. Figures and/or tables summarizing study findings, with or without statistical methods and analyses
b. Text data summary in Microsoft Word
