Data Sharing and Licences
Where possible and appropriate, researchers should make research data available for others to access, verify, reuse, and build upon.
However, not all research data can or should be made openly available. Data sharing must take into account ethical, legal, contractual, intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy, and security requirements.
What Data Can Be Shared?
Before sharing research data, consider:
- Legal and ethical requirements — Personal, sensitive, or confidential data may require restrictions.
- Consent — Check whether consent allows data sharing and reuse.
- Rights and ownership — Ensure you have the right to share the data.
- Funder requirements — Check applicable data-sharing requirements.
- Documentation and quality — Ensure the data are sufficiently documented and usable.
- Access conditions — Determine whether data should be open, restricted, or subject to an embargo.
Where to Share Research Data?
Research data should preferably be deposited in a trusted research data repository that is appropriate for the discipline and type of data.
A suitable repository can provide:
- persistent identifiers such as DOIs;
- metadata and dataset description;
- long-term preservation;
- access and licence information;
- versioning;
- data citation;
- appropriate access controls.
Choosing a Licence
A licence informs users about what they are allowed to do with research data. When data can be openly shared, researchers should choose a clear and appropriate licence or rights statement.
For research data, CC0 and CC BY are commonly considered highly reusable options. CC0 enables unrestricted reuse to the extent permitted by law, while CC BY permits reuse and adaptation provided that appropriate attribution is given.
Creative Commons provides detailed information about the available licences and their conditions.
Follow the steps to select the appropriate license for your work- Choose a License for Your Work
