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Research Data Management Resources

Data management best practices, funder mandates, data sharing options, and local resources for research data management.

UMass Chan Intellectual Property Policy

UMass Chan owns any Intellectual Property, including research data, that are made, discovered, or created by UMass Chan faculty, staff, or students (including residents). This does not include Exempted Scholarly Works (such as textbooks, class notes, research articles, or student theses and dissertations). 

 

Concerned About Copyright?

Who Owns What?

An individual or institution owns data when they hold the legal rights to that data. The question of who owns data depends upon the conditions of its creation. The answer will differ if the data was created through the course of research or as a condition of employment or contract.

Typically, there are three parties involved in data ownership:

  1. Funding Agencies provide the resources to support the research and in doing so have rights to the data. Per the Bayh-Dole Act (1980), funding agencies generally allow institutions to own data produced in research. However, they commonly have stipulations or requirements regarding how data should be managed and disseminated. These requirements are often a condition for receiving an award. 
  2. Sponsoring Institutions are responsible for the receipt, management, and disbursement of federal, philanthropic, and private funding dollars. Typically, institutions are the owners of research data. In this role, they are ultimately responsible for ensuring that reserach is conducted ethically and that it is retained as required. 
  3. Principal Investigators conduct research and are granted stewardship over their research data by the Institution. PIs must ensure that the data is collected efficiently and ethically and that they are in compliance with institutional, local, and federal laws and regulations regarding the collection and managment of data. PIs may have some rights to the data. For example, a PI can arrange with the institution to take research data with them if they leave the institution. 

From Guidelines for Responsible Data Management in Scientific Research, page 6; NECDMC Module 5: Ethical and Legal Considerations for Research Data.