RMP.4:4.5 - Determine actual access and the consequences of loss
Confirm what material survives and how the receiving reader can inspect it. A repository link, an access policy and a custodian’s assurance answer different questions. A public summary may omit the exact detail required for a criticism even though an authorized reader could inspect the retained original.
Apply the following distinctions to the named examination, not as a universal grading scale.
| Material available | Supported use and exact limitation | Next useful action |
|---|---|---|
| Relevant originals and context are inspectable by the receiving critic. | The critic can undertake the declared examination if the needed connections are present. Availability does not settle the scientific conclusion. | Give the material and connections to the separately selected criticism or analysis. |
| Originals survive under restricted access and only a coarsened or redacted view is public. | Each view supports only the examinations its detail permits. Hidden detail is not available merely because its existence is stated. | Obtain permitted access, or a separately qualified inspection result if that answers the need. Otherwise narrow or withhold the receiving conclusion. |
| Surviving sources support only reconstruction. | The reconstruction may answer a bounded question about earlier work; it does not supply unsupported timing or original conduct. | State sources and uncertainty, and obtain stronger evidence if the missing distinction is essential. |
| Consequential material never existed, was lost or is no longer retainable. | The package can expose that loss and any narrower available examination. It is not criticism-ready for an examination requiring the absent material. | Return the missing evidence or narrower-use question to its owner. New observations or a rerun are new work with their own design and trace. |
| Loss or access also defeats the selected design or changes the research question. | Unaffected material can remain useful, but the original research relation is no longer supported as assumed. | Return the failed design premise to RMP.2 or the changed question to RMP.1, preserving the actual history. |
A qualified custodian’s inspection result, when available, retains its own scope and limits. It is neither equivalent to public access nor a compulsory substitute in every study. An access request cannot itself establish that access has been obtained.