| Question | Answer |
| How are the data submitted? | Data from only a small sample can be submitted manually, by clicking on Data, selecting the relevant project, clicking on the Submit Data Manually button, and then completing the form.
If you wish to submit data from a large file, you can send the whole file provided that you first save it as a .CSV file using Excel for Windows. You must check the file to ensure that Excel has not automatically added commas to large numbers, by doing a search for commas after creating the .CSV file. Alternatively, you can select a field separator such as a vertical bar. You must include all the variables as well as the unique identifiers. The unique identifier must be different from the patients hospital number. You will need to keep in your own database a file allowing you to link unique identifier with hospital number. |
| How will geoconda know who has submitted the data? | Geoconda will automatically attach your personal membership number to the patient’s unique identifier number. |
| How can I retrieve or edit data that I have previously submitted? | Click on the ‘Retrieve/Edit Data’ button and wait for the data to appear. This might take several minutes. |
| What can I do once I retrieve the data? | You can delete it or analyse it. |
| Can I retrieve data from other participants? | Yes. You can decide whether to retrieve only your own data or also the data from other participants in your study. However, you will not be able to identify which patients belong to whom. This is to protect the privacy of other participants. |
| Whom will the data belong to? | Even after submission, the data belong to you. You can retrieve and delete your own data at any time until the data have irretrievably been merged for analysis. |
| Can data from one project be used for another project? | No, data for different projects must be submitted separately. |
| Can I publish studies based on my data that I have submitted to geoconda.com? | If you publish data in different articles you need to follow conventional practice. |
| Can I publish studies using data from other centres? | No. You can not use any data from other centres in any publications other then the intended article for which the data were originally submitted. This usually means that you must be the project proposer and must have written authorization from all participants before submitting the manuscript for publication. |