Legal aspects of research data management

Legal aspects of research data management

On this page, we outline the University of Rostock’s recommendations regarding research data, provide guidance on the various legal frameworks governing research data management, and list the relevant contact persons at the university.

Recommendations from the University of Rostock

Research Data Policy of the University of Rostock

 

 

Legal aspects relating to research data management

The following areas of law are relevant to research data management: copyright and copyright contract law, rights relating to research data, databases and software, licensing rights and usage agreements, personal rights and data protection, image rights, secondary publications and further use, as well as employment law.

The Justitiariat (S43) is the point of contact for binding legal advice. For questions regarding data protection, please contact the Stabsstelle Datenschutz und Informationssicherheit.

Many aspects are explained in the publication ‘Rechtsfragen bei Open Science’.

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Urheberrecht in der Wissenschaft

You can read what researchers and lecturers need to know in the BMBF’s FAQs.

Guide to ‘data protection-compliant processing’

Here you will find step-by-step instructions to help you ensure that your processing of personal data complies with the law.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement that regulates access to and the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.

Guidance on legal aspects of research data

Here you will find information on copyright and usage rights compiled by the University Library of Greifswald.

 

 

Data protection

In many departments at the University of Rostock, researchers work with personal data. This data is subject to data protection regulations. The legal provisions govern how this data is handled. These provisions are set out in the DSGVO, the BDSG and the Datenschutzgesetz MV. The interactive Virtual Assistant (iVA) from BERD@NFDI helps researchers to check which data protection regulations must be observed within the framework of a research project. By answering a series of questions, users are guided through the provisions of the data protection laws (DSGVO, BDSG, LDSG) that are relevant to them.

personal data

Do your research data contain personal data? Personal data requires special protection. Possible measures include restricting access (e.g. password protection), encryption, or anonymisation/de-identification. Further information can be found on the Data Protection Officer’s page.

ethical issues

If your research project involves research on humans or animal testing, you must obtain approval from an ethics committee before commencing the research. Further information can be found on the Rostock University Medical Centre website.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement that regulates access to and the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from such use.

sensitive data

Do your research data contain sensitive information such as details regarding racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health or sex life (BDSG §3(9))? This information requires a particularly high level of protection. This can be achieved through restricted access via passwords, pseudonymisation, etc. Find out more on the Data Protection Officer’s page.

other sensitive data

Other sensitive data includes non-personal data. Examples include company data or business data. This data is usually collected from project partners or provided by them. The contractual provisions relating to this data apply.

 

 

Licensing and Open Access

Open Access refers to unrestricted and free access to scientific information. Open Access is an integral part of the concept of open science – often referred to simply as Open Science. The idea behind it is that science should be freely accessible to everyone. The FAIR principles support research in this regard, as they set out how research data should be published. According to the FAIR principles, data should be ‘findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable’.

Open Access

Creative Commons are copyright licences and tools. They are designed in a modular way to allow authors to grant rights for the reuse of their copyright-protected works. Creative Commons provides the Licence Chooser to help you select a CC licence. 

The DEAL Consortium provides guidance on its website to help you choose a suitable licence. Licence agreements are another way of defining the rights of use for research data. You can find an example of a licence agreement in this PDF from Gesis.

Creative Commons

If the research data to be published consists of software, it is advisable to choose a software licence. Other licence models usually do not adequately address the protection or release of the content.

Software licences

The GNU Free Documentation Licence is a copyleft licence intended for software documentation that upholds freedom, but it is also used for other free content.

GNU Free Documentation Licence