Data Management and Sharing

Facts cannot be copyrighted, as U.S. Copyright law protects creative “expression, and never ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, or discoveries” (https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/).  Data, as a collection of facts, is not protected by copyright law. Expressions of data, such as a graph or a data table may be copyrighted. For more information, review CENDI's Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright.

Licensing your dataset allows you to clarify how your dataset can be used.  To promote sharing and use of your data, you can make your dataset available under a Open Data Commons or Creative Commons License.

Data ownership focuses on issues involving who has control of and rights to data. Here are a few considerations:

• Both institutional and funder policies may impact data ownership
• Pay special attention to questions of data ownership when you engage in collaborations, both internal and external
• If you are a student or post-doc, ask your advisor what happens to your research data once you leave their lab