Scope

The MANATEE community curates research outputs on underwater habitat monitoring and mapping, including:

Primary data (images/video, pressure & IMU logs, acoustic/navigation tracks)
3D products (sparse/dense point clouds, meshes, textured models, orthomosaics, DEM/DTM/DSM)
Geospatial layers (GeoTIFF, GeoPackage, LAZ/LAS, E57, etc.)
Documentation (protocols, calibration & QA/QC reports), software/code, replication packages, and preprints/postprints.

Who can submit / Review model

Who can submit: Any authenticated Zenodo user.
Review: All submissions are reviewed by MANATEE curators before they appear in the community. Curators may request changes (metadata, files, licensing) prior to acceptance.

Acceptance criteria

Submissions must:

Fit the scope above.
Provide sufficient metadata for reuse (title; abstract; creators + affiliations; ORCID where possible; keywords; funding; methods; instruments; spatial/temporal coverage; version; Related identifiers such as article DOIs).
Respect legal/ethical constraints (IPR, GDPR, protected sites/species, permits).
Specify a clear license (open by default; see “Licensing”).

Quality checks (non‑peer review)

Curators verify:

Completeness of metadata and presence of a README (with acquisition logs, calibration files, processing steps, software versions).
File formats favoring interoperable/open standards (CSV/JSON/TXT/MD, GeoTIFF, LAZ/LAS, E57, PLY/OBJ/glTF, PDF/A). Include CRS and units for geodata.
Provenance & reproducibility (documented workflow; versioning).
Rights & ethics (no personal data; respect for sensitive sites/species; required permissions attached when applicable).
Safety & environment (no instructions enabling unlawful access to protected areas or destructive sampling).

Licensing

Data: recommended CC BY 4.0 (or CC0 for simple metadata-only assets).
Code: MIT/BSD/Apache‑2.0.
Embargoes are allowed with justification and a clear release date.

Versioning & related identifiers

Use Zenodo versioning. Link records using Related identifiers (e.g., IsSupplementTo MANATEE publications; IsDerivedFrom raw images; IsPartOf larger collections). Provide machine‑readable citations.

Geospatial sensitivity

If sharing precise locations risks habitat conservation, generalize coordinates (e.g., coarse bounding boxes) and strip EXIF/track logs as needed. Include a short “sensitivity statement” in the README.

Rejection & takedown

Curators may reject submissions that are out of scope, insufficiently documented, mis‑licensed, or ethically non‑compliant. Takedown requests (IP/privacy/environmental sensitivity) will be assessed; records may be restricted or removed if warranted.

Attribution & contact

Cite deposits as indicated in each record and acknowledge the MANATEE community and funding when appropriate.
Contact: via Zenodo community contact form or the project website.