• Database Access
• Physician Confidentiality
• Acknowledgements
• Authorship
• Publication of Results

The data/database itself remains the property of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and will not be sold to outside parties. The database itself remains housed at the CFPC.

CFPC chapters, medical organizations/societies, government, researchers/research groups, individual physicians, and commercial organizations may request and receive summary tabulations and statistical analysis of the information contained in the Janus Project database.

The terms of access to the data, as well as any access-related costs, are determined on a case by case basis. All requests for analyses are initially vetted by the CFPC’s Research Department, followed by consultation with the JANUS Project Coordinating Committee .

Data requestors will be asked to specify the purpose of their proposed study,  data required, proposed plan for dissemination of results and a list of the individuals/groups involved in the study.

A fee may be charged for the preparation of statistical analyses, beyond those analyses which have already been prepared, published or publicly presented. This fee includes a standardized administration component, and is additionally dependent upon the degree of complexity, and staff time required to complete the required analyses.

Physician Confidentiality

While the survey data was collected in a confidential manner, the CFPC will ensure that any data, tables or summaries made available to any CFPC chapter, medical organization/society, research group, individual or commercial operation will be provided in a manner that preserves physician confidentiality.

Any subsets of aggregate data provided will only include cell sizes with more than 4 cases to protect physician confidentiality. Exceptions to this rule will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with consideration of the credentials of the researcher, research objectives and dissemination of the results. In exceptional cases where small cell frequencies are released, the CFPC will reserve the right to review results prior to their release or publication.

For the sole purpose of independent, non-commercial scientific research, copies of parts of the database may be provided to CFPC chapters/colleges, medical organizations/societies and academic research groups, with decisions made by the JPCC on a case-by-case basis. This access is not available for commercial purposes. This mode of access should be considered the exception, and not the usual mode of access. The continuation of this mode of access will be subject to periodic review by the JPCC.

Copies of parts of the database may only be provided after the signing of a detailed contractual agreement between the parties wishing such access and the CFPC, over the signature of the CFPC’s Chief Executive Officer.

Summaries of data, and copies of the database (in whole or in part) will be provided in such a manner subject to a written agreement that the recipient will adhere to the provisions for the preservation of physician confidentiality as set out above. Furthermore, the recipient will not be permitted to distribute or use the data for the purpose of conducting analysis for other parties, nor for the conduct of any commercial studies.

Acknowledgements:

Where data or analyses are obtained from the CFPC National Family Physician Workforce Database and subsequently published, an appropriate acknowledgment must be included. This rule applies to all papers, presentations and publications resulting from or including analyses of the JANUS Project data. This does not apply to information quoted from already existing publications or information publicly released by the CFPC.

The following text must be included in any subsequent paper, presentation or publication emanating from the data collected for the CFPC National Family Physician Workforce Database. It is recognized that the location of the acknowledgement in any publication will follow that publication’s format guidelines.

Acknowledgement

The study described in this paper (presentation, etc) was conducted utilizing original data collected for the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s National Family Physician Workforce Database.

 This database is part of the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s JANUS Project: Family Physicians Meeting the Needs of Tomorrow’s Society. The study was also supported by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), La fédération des médecins omnipracticiens du Qué bec (FMOQ), Health Canada, Scotiabank, Merck Frosst, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC).

The principal investigators of the CFPC National Family Physician Workforce Database study may be acknowledged in a supra or sub-title assigned to a paper by a journal/publication, but this is not required. They will not be listed as authors of the paper/presentation unless they themselves contributed to the development of the paper or presentation. The recognition of the CFPC database in the title of any article based on information from this database may vary from journal to journal, but should contain elements of the following text:

Title of paper X (which is based upon data or analyses from the database)
A Study from the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s National Family Physician Workforce Database – part of The JANUS Project: Family Physicians Meeting the Needs of Tomorrow’s Society

Authors of paper X (as per the Vancouver criteria)

Publication:

For papers resulting from studies conducted in response to the CFPC’s request for proposals, the authors will be asked to consider submitting their papers to Canadian Family Physician for publication. This request may be considered as part of a contractual agreement developed in advance of any proposed study.

All papers submitted to Canadian Family Physician for publication will be treated in the same manner as all other paper submissions: they will go through the peer review process and editorial review, and Canadian Family Physician reserves the right to not publish any article.

A common titular format for all Janus Project papers published in Canadian Family Physician will be used, acknowledging the full title of the paper, the CFPC National Family Physicians Workforce Database, and the authors of the paper. Acknowledgements will be included as specified above.

For papers published elsewhere, the CFPC requires that a copy of any paper, presentation text or publication resulting from analyses of the CFPC National Family Physician Workforce Database be provided to the CFPC for information purposes only.