Ownership of data
Data obtained in the process of research performed in Amsterdam UMC by one of its employees remains the property of the employer, providing it is not personal or coded data. However, special agreements may have to be made in certain situations.
- A research group can reach agreement about the sharing of data within the group during the study process. For example, the principal investigator might remain the primary owner until the original research question has been answered. Sharing of data can also result in shared authorship (see Chapter 'Authorship').
- If data are expected to be suitable for patents, they can be withheld from publication for an agreed period (see Chapter 'Valorization').
- When a researcher leaves the institution and is interested in preparing further publications based on the data gathered, agreement must be reached between this researcher and the principal investigator or the departmental head about the conditions under which this is acceptable.
Under Dutch law, there is no legal ownership of personal or coded data. Hence, in this case Amsterdam UMC serves as ‘data custodian’. At all times, the rights of human research subjects with regard to protection of their personal data must be respected. Research participants have the right to be informed about the use of their data, to request access to their data, and to request rectification or erasure of these data. For example, participants should at all times be able to withdraw their consent for any future use of their data.