Data obligations

Responsibilities

It is important that researchers are aware of the responsibilities that using a data collection entails. This is especially the case where data has been obtained from restricted or subscription sources. It will also apply to data that includes confidential content.
Researchers need to think about:

  • how they will use data in practice
  • how data is being combined (where multiple sources are being used)
  • how it will be presented during and after analysis
  • whether data is being appropriately stored and backed up.

Transparency

An obligation in working with data is to be open and transparent about what was used and in what way. One way of doing this is to keep its usage well documented. This is an important stage in developing habits that demonstrate research integrity and where appropriate support reproducibility and verification. Such documentation may then be expanded to describe the whole of the research process.

A well documented research project will be:

  • a useful resource for the data creator during and after the research;
  • evidence of a commitment to research transparency;
  • a foundation of good data management.

The UK Data Service has created a resource pack, 'Dissertations and their data: promoting research integrity' (PDF), which aims to introduce the idea of transparency in research into undergraduate teaching.

Terms and conditions

Some data collections attract particular restrictions, but there are also general terms and conditions that should be observed as part of good research practice.

Databases or data collections should be:

  • used for academic research only
  • not used for commercial purposes
  • not shared with anyone else
  • destroyed once used and not re-used for other projects,
  • properly attributed so original sources may be consulted if necessary.

Further clarification

In most cases, this should be straightforward. However, if you have any concerns you should raise these with your own Subject Librarian.

Situations where more clarification may be needed include:

  • developing a research project with commercial potential or collaborators,
  • fulfilling requirements from funding bodies that research data be preserved,
  • creating a working environment that satisfies restricted access data suppliers requirements for secure access.

Data citation

Data citation is a key practice supporting data preservation, access, and reuse, as well as sound scholarship arising from a recognition that data generated and archived during research are just as valuable to the ongoing academic discourse as papers and monographs. This view is shared by research institutions, funding councils and a growing number of publishers.

When citing data include author(s), title, year of deposit, repository or distributor, DOI (the standard persistent digital object identifier), or other access location. Make sure your citation includes enough information to find the data easily.

Visit Research Data Oxford and FAIRsharing.org for more details.

Data archives may provide guidelines on how to cite the data. Some websites provide this information on individual dataset pages.

MANTRA, a research data management training course, offers an interactive training module which introduces the concepts of documentation and metadata.

Copyright and data

Copyright, an intellectual property right assigned automatically to the creator, prevents unauthorised copying and publishing of an original work. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, copyright applies to research data, which falls under the category of Literary, dramatic and musical works, and plays a role when creating, sharing and re-using data. However, 2014 amendments (see section 29A) and the Government official Guidance Note introduced changes to copyright and intellectual property law and how it affects researchers.

You can find data mining guides and tools on the Future TDM project website.

Additional advice on general obligations of using or sharing data and more specifically on citation of data may be found on the Research Data Oxford website.