15  Outputs for release

All outputs for release should be classified as moderately_sensitive in actions. OpenSAFELY does not permit information relating to between 1 and less than 5 individuals to be released. Redaction functions are available from other users to help you prepare your output.

15.1 Tables

• Use readr::write_csv() to save .csv files that will be sent to output checkers.

  readr::write_csv(object, 
                   path = file.path("output", "mydata.csv"))

  (Note that in more recent versions of the readr package the path argument has been renamed to file. And that large highly sensitive datasets should be saved as a compressed csv file, i.e., in .csv.gz format.)

• Do not save outputs to subdirectories of the output folder, otherwise running the study definition on GitHub Actions will probably fail with an error message such as

  

  Error in file(file, ifelse(append, "a", "w")) : 
     cannot open the connection
   Calls: write.csv -> eval.parent -> eval -> eval -> write.table -> file
   In addition: Warning message:
   In file(file, ifelse(append, "a", "w")) :
     cannot open file '/workspace/output/descriptive/tables/table1.csv': No such file or directory
   Backtrace:
   1: file(file, ifelse(append, "a", "w"))
   2: write.table(table1_all$table_body, here::here("output", "descriptive", 
   3: eval(expr, p)
   4: eval(expr, p)
   5: eval.parent(Call)
   6: write.csv(table1_all$table_body, here::here("output", "descriptive",
  
  Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

15.2 Figures

• Use .svg for figure outputs that will be sent to output checkers
• Where applicable (e.g., histograms), start the x-axis at 5 instead of 0 to ensure low counts are not exported

15.3 Releasing output

• Ensure your outputs are in the correct formats
  • .csv (not .rds or .Rdata) for tables of data
  • .txt or .html if you want to view them in L4
• Ensure your outputs are marked as moderately_sensitive in your project.yaml
• To release an output, please complete the ‘Output files for review’ section of this form and email to your assigned Bristol L4 access person
• Bristol L4 access people will check the output on the server on your behalf, complete the rest of the form (including files locations), and email to datarelease@opensafely.org for final approval