Making research data available, secondary use of research data
Making research data available
It is important that those conducting research consider whether it is appropriate, and possible, to make research data available. This consideration is based on confidentiality or personal data regulations, business partnerships, other regulations regarding sensitive data including security perspectives, etc.
Assistance in discussing which considerations may be relevant for specific research projects or entire research areas can be obtained from the research data adviser at the respective faculty, the information security officer or the export control coordinator.
When research data is to be made available, this needs to happen in a suitable place. Örebro university recommends using certified official research catalogues and repositories.
You can find more information on making data available here (Swedish).
Request of open data with limited access
Research data created with a requirement to be made available, but still in need of restricted access, cannot be published directly on the internet. This might be due to, for example, it containing personal data or protection by confidentiality clauses. Instead, anyone who wants to use these data must ask the university for access to them. The university needs to assess whether there are conditions for granting the requested access and if they are met.
At Örebro University, such a request is currently made to the University Library. The assessment of whether data can be released is then made by the school with the support of the University Library and others who may need to be consulted, such as the Legal Office.
When assessing such a request, support can be obtained from the Swedish National Data Service (SND), if the data contains personal data. the Swedish National Data Services has written a publication, ”Vägledning för forskningsdata med personuppgifter” along with a checklist, ”Checklista för utlämnande av forskningsdata med personuppgifter”.
The same principle regarding confidentiality applies for research data without personal data, but which still needs limited availability for other security reasons (see information classification).
Swedish National Data Service. (2022). Vägledning för utlämnande av forskningsdata med personuppgifter (Version 1). Zenodo (only in Swedish). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6352658
Swedish National Data Service. (2024). Checklista för utlämnande av forskningsdata med personuppgifter (1.0). Zenodo (only in Swedish). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10829329
Secondary use of research data from completed research projects without demands if open data
Research data in completed research projects is normally a public document at Örebro University and can be requested. The principle of openness states that everything that is not protected by confidentiality must be disclosed on request. However, an examination of the data always has to be done, as it might contain confidential data.
According to the rules of delegation, the head of school is responsible for the documents kept at the school. Requests for disclosure of research data are therefore handled by the school (see the guidelines ‘Rutin för registrering av allmänna handlingar’ and ‘Hantering av allmänna handlingar’). If a request concerns research data which has been handed over to the archive function, it is the latter together with the registry that handles any request.
In the case of secondary use of research data containing personal data, it is important to consider whether a new ethics application may be necessary. This is because the original authorisation from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority only relates to a specific research project. Note that whether a new ethics application needs to be submitted (or an amendment to the original) is necessary, is irrespective of whether it is the original data collector who wants to re-use the data in a new project or someone outside the original research project’s group.