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Creating a release request

After logging into Airlock, researchers can view files in workspaces that they have permission to access.

Researchers populate a release request by adding, and if necessary withdrawing files.

Adding files🔗

To add a file, researchers select the relevant workspace, navigate to view the file, and use "Add File to Request". Airlock will ask the researcher to specify the type of file and the file group that the file should be added to.

File types🔗

When adding a file, researchers should choose one of these two options:

  • Output Files of this type contain the data the researcher wishes to be released. These files will ultimately be released if approved.
  • Supporting Files of this type contain supplementary data to support the review of "output" type files in the release request, e.g. the underlying data used to generate a figure. These files will ultimately not be released.

File groups🔗

File groups allow the researcher to group the various files in a release request into logical groups, in order to help the output checker understand the request. Supporting files should be placed in the same file group as the Output file they support.

Withdrawing files🔗

To withdraw a file, researchers select the current release request, navigate to view the file, and use "Withdraw from Request".

Withdrawing files

Files can only be withdrawn whilst a release request is in the Pending or Returned states. If a request is in the Submitted or Reviewed state, it should first be returned to the author in order to withdraw a file. Once a request reaches the Approved, Released, Rejected, or Withdrawn states, files can no longer be withdrawn through this mechanism. If it is necessary to withdraw a file in this case, please refer to the documentation for reporting a data breach.

Updating files🔗

When a file is added to a release request, a copy is taken of the current state of that file. This is deliberate, and ensures that a file added to a request does not change.

If a subsequent a job is run within that workspace which changes the file, the workspace view will show the new file contents and the release request view will continue to show the old file contents from the time that it was added to the request.

In order to update a file, the researcher must first follow the steps above to withdraw the file from the request. They will then be able to add the updated file.

🚧 There are more features coming soon involving updating files.