Presentation at the ELPUB 2015 conference on Malta for the paper Esther Hoorn and I wrote. Paper (same title) is open access available in the proceedings: http://ebooks.iospress.nl/book/new-avenues-for-electronic-publishing-in-the-age-of-infinite-collections-and-citizen-science-scale-openness-and-trust-proceedings-of-the-19th-international-conf How can universities provide good advice about the legal aspects of research data management? At the same time, how can universities prevent that perceived legal risks become barriers to: conducting research, sharing research data, valorisation of research data, and control mechanisms for the purpose of scientific integrity? A Dutch expert group developed a creative approach based on some core ideas about regulation in the field of academic research.

1. Finding the Law for
Sharing Data in Academia
ELPUB Conference 2015
Esther Hoorn & Marlon Domingus
September 2

2. The challenge
How can universities provide good advice about the legal aspects of
research data management? At the same time, how can universities
prevent that perceived legal risks become barriers to:
• conducting research,
• sharing research data,
• valorisation of research data,
• and control mechanisms for the purpose of scientific integrity?
A Dutch expert group developed a creative approach based on some
core ideas about regulation in the field of academic research.

3. The framework: the Ecosystem View
Academia
IndustrySociety
data

4. Sharing data based on mutual trust
Academia
IndustrySociety
Data Data
Data
Trust

5. Legal Dimensions: Finding the Law
Academia
IndustrySociety
Hard Law:
Privacy Law,
Patent Law,
…
Hard Law:
Contracts,
Agreements,
...
Soft Law:
Code of Conduct,
Guidelines,
...
Responsible Research and Innovation
Good Citizenship Corporate Social Responsibility

6. Dimensions in data openness
The European Commission supports open data. Open data refers to the
idea that certain data should be freely available for use and re-use. It is the
engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance.
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) holds that
research results paid for by public funds should be freely accessible
worldwide. In principle, it should be possible to share the research data with
others as well. In this way, valuable knowledge can be utilised by
researchers, businesses and civil society organisations.
From the point of view of Academia however, research data is made
available to colleagues who want to replicate the study or elaborate on its
findings. To be realistic: within many disciplines, sharing too much data too
soon, could endanger an academic career.

7. The Approach: Legal Research Support
We propose not so much a staff / responsibilities matrix, but rather
suggest that within a university the following basic steps should be taken
by experts:
1. identify barriers and pitfalls, for instance in a research project plan,
2. acquire accurate knowledge of the rules and requirements regarding
to research data,
3. take proper legal advice and applying this legal knowledge correctly
and timely, for instance by writing tailored paragraphs in a
Consortium Agreement.

8. Starting point: researcher and research process
Research planning Data collection Data processing Data analysis Publishing Archiving
Time
Metadata: data types, formats,
provenance, …
Snapshots of the data and
description of hereof with
relevant timeline
Database queries used, and
when carried out, used syntax /
code / variables, …
Used documents: signed
informed consent forms,
original questionnaire, …
Lab journals,
Code books: observations,
relevant context, used code, …
Documentation
Budget and resources
Contracts and Agreements on
data use, storage, curation and
preservation
Project plan, study design or
study protocol
Data Management Plan:
Data access, use, storage,
curation and preservation
Research Design Description:
methods, protocols, standards,
privacy
Planning
data
The final version of the
publication
Communication with the editor
(also in case of rejection), the
reviews and your answers to
the reviewers' questions
Versions of the publication:
submitted / reviewed / revised
Publishing
data
Published files
Research documentation files
Research planning files
Archiving
data

9. Starting Point: Planning Phase
Research planning Data collection Data processing Data analysis Publishing Archiving
Time
Budget and resources
Contracts and Agreements on
data use, storage, curation and
preservation
Project plan, study design or
study protocol
Data Management Plan:
Data access, use, storage,
curation and preservation
Research Design Description:
methods, protocols, standards,
privacy
Planning Template
texts
Discipline
specific texts
For every
aspect
hands on support
for research staff

10. Wiki
• Topics (IPR, Privacy by Design, Data Ownership, Contracts, ...)
• The landscape of present rules and requirements regarding to
research data

11. Legal Landscape
Dutch Perspective
• Data is not a bicycle

12. Further Information
mr. Esther Hoorn
legal advisor
Legal Affairs
University of Groningen
+31 50 363 9155
e.hoorn@rug.nl
drs. Marlon Domingus
project manager
Research Support Office
Erasmus University Rotterdam
+31 10 4088006
domingus@ubib.eur.nl

13. Legal Landscape
Dutch Perspective
• Data is not a bicycle