Data Sharing and Public Release Policy

The following policy is based on the discussion and consensus that developed at the GEM 2002 Coordination meeting (London Business School; 10-12 Jan 2002). For purposes of the discussion, several types of data files are discussed:

·          Individual Country Adult Population Survey Data. (n = respondent, each country)

·          Consolidated Adult Population Survey Data for all Countries. (n = respondent, all countries)

·          Individual Country Expert Questionnaire Data (n = respondent, each country)

·          Consolidated Country Expert Questionnaire Data (n = respondent, all countries)

·          Individual Country Expert Face to Face Interview Summaries (n = respondent, each country)

·          Consolidated Country Expert Face-to-Face Interview Summaries. (n = respondent, all countries)

·          GEM Master Data File (n = country, all countries)

The policy for data sharing is illustrated in Table 1 and the specific releases for years 1999 through 2003 in Table 2. Time is measured in terms of months before and after the annual Global Press Conference, usually in November of each year. Major elements of this policy are:

1. National GEM teams will have access to GEM data for the years in which they have paid their fees.

   2. All country specific data is restricted to the individual country team, coordination team, and special topic teams prior to the global press release event. 

3. Master data files, where the country is the unit of analysis and the individual respondent and expert data is summarized for each country, are provide to all national teams as soon as they are prepared, prior to the public release of the Global Report.

4. The country specific data related to the adult population surveys, expert questionnaires, or expert face to face interviews are to be provided only to the respective national teams, GEM coordination, and any special topic teams for 12 months following the press conference. Two or more individual countries may, at any time agree to share this data for their own purposes.

5. One year after this global press conference, the consolidated data files (all respondents for all countries) are to made available to all GEM national teams.

6. Three years or 37 months after the global press release, all data files are to be placed in the public domain, beginning with the public side of the GEM website.

Access to data before the public release 

7. Access is restricted to listed members of GEM national teams, those affiliated with the Coordination Team, and others that may be engaged as technical consultants.

8. GEM national teams are allowed to share any and all of their country specific data with anyone of their choosing—colleagues, sponsors, etc.

9. If colleagues and others not formally associated with a given GEM national team become involved in analysis, interpretation, and preparation of papers or presentations involving data from other GEM countries before the public release of that data, a GEM national team member must be involved as a named co-author.