Ownership of Data
In this section, the primary concern will be the ownership of research data. There is no dispute that the institution owns financial and administrative data. The discussion over the ownership of research data, however, can be very contentious. Researchers often regard the data they collect and generate to be theirs. After all, they perform the research based on their ideas and hypotheses. Indeed, the project would not exist if the researcher did not develop the idea in the first place. When sponsored funding becomes involved, the issue becomes more complicated. Sponsored project agreements are executed between the sponsor and the institution. The researcher is not usually a legal party to sponsored agreements. While the agreement may not, and probably will not, clearly state that the institution owns the data, all rights and responsibilities that are part of a sponsored agreement are accorded to the legal entities that are the parties to the agreement. In its policies, an institution may give its researchers wide latitude with regard to the management and retention of research data, but with regard to sponsored funding the institution is considered to be the owner of such data.
