PhysioNet Copying Policy

Verbatim copying and redistribution of any material available from PhysioNet is permitted. Please cite PhysioNet and the author of the material you copy or quote!

If you wish to set up a publicly accessible mirror of the PhysioNet web site, please follow the procedure described in How to set up a mirror of PhysioNet.

Note that compiled software in executable form may be available from PhysioNet as a convenience to users. We permit but do not encourage redistribution of these binaries, since binaries do not readily allow users to verify their function. If you redistribute binaries either obtained from PhysioNet, or compiled from sources available from PhysioNet, you must make the corresponding sources available at no more than a nominal charge for copying.

If you wish to distribute modified copies of materials originally obtained from PhysioNet, other terms may apply, as described below. If you have any questions, please write.

Software

All software available from PhysioNet is free software, available either under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation, or, if otherwise indicated within individual source files, under the terms of another license or licenses conforming to the Open Source Definition. These licenses permit you to make and redistribute verbatim copies of the source files, and generally grant other permissions as well.

Data

All data available from PhysioNet are free data. We are not aware of a de facto standard license for free data analogous to the GPL; your suggestions are welcome. You may make and redistribute verbatim copies of data files.

IMPORTANT: Modified copies of data files may not be distributed except under these terms:

• These requirements apply even if you wish only to reformat data files, as can be done using xform.
• The files must be renamed, and may not be given names that match those of unmodified data files available from PhysioNet. (All unmodified data files available from PhysioNet have names that do not contain upper-case letters; thus any name containing one or more upper-case letters will satisfy this requirement.)
• Each modified file (or set of files) must include a notice that clearly indicates the name of the source from which it was derived (the PhysioNet URL is recommended and is sufficient), and that the file is not a verbatim copy of the original. You are encouraged but not required to include a summary of the modification(s) in this notice. Include any notice(s) of previous modifications if you make changes to a file that has already been modified.
• If you modify a header file, include the notice as an info string (comment following a '#' character) at the end of the header file itself. (Use more than one info string if necessary. Always place your notice at the end of the header file; software that may make further modifications should follow the same convention, so that a record of changes appears in chronological order.)
• If you modify a signal file (for example, to reformat it, to filter it, or to select a subset of the original data), and the modified version is in a format compatible with PhysioToolkit software, include the notice within the associated header file as described above, and distribute both files together. Note that the current version of xform complies with this requirement, since it inserts suitable comments within the header files it generates.
• If you modify a signal file, and the modified version is not in a format compatible with PhysioToolkit software (for example, because you used a proprietary format for the modified file), you may do either or both of the following:
  • Embed the notice in clear text (ASCII or ISO Latin-1 characters) within the file, if the format permits embedded comments and the software most commonly used to read the file permits display of such comments in clear text form.
  • Include the notice in a separate file, and distribute both files together.
• If you modify an annotation file, you may do either or both of the following:
  • Embed the notice in clear text (ASCII or ISO Latin-1 characters) within the file, if the format permits embedded comments and the software most commonly used to read the file permits display of such comments in clear text form. The format used for annotation files available from PhysioNet allows comment annotations; if you use this format, insert a comment annotation containing the notice at the end of the file. (Always place your notice at the end of the annotation file; software that may make further modifications should follow the same convention, so that a record of changes appears in chronological order.)
  • Include the notice in a separate file, and distribute both files together.

We impose these restrictions on distribution of modified copies not to discourage modification, but because it is crucially important that users of these data always be able to distinguish originals from modified copies. PhysioToolkit software is designed to make it easy to comply with these requirements; we encourage you to make use of the relevant code from our software in your own tools.

Documentation and commentary

Permission is granted to reproduce and redistribute all documentation and commentary available from PhysioNet.

Documentation and commentary may be quoted, translated, or otherwise modified, with attribution to the author(s). If the modifications have the effect of altering the meaning of the original text, include a prominent notice indicating that the text has been altered and may no longer reflect the intent of the original author(s).