DATA STEWARD REVIEW REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF RESEARCH MATERIALS

In signing a Research Agreement with a public body for access to data, researchers commit to sending Research Materials (previously called “pre-publication materials”) to the public body in advance of public dissemination. Data Stewards, as those responsible for ensuring appropriate uses of the public body’s data, check that:

• Privacy / confidentiality requirements are upheld
• There is no gross misuse of the data
• The data is appropriately referenced 

This also provides an opportunity for Data Stewards to learn of, and brief internally on, the research findings. 

Experience has shown that not all researchers have the same understanding of what is required, and that public bodies vary in their expectations and timelines. In order to enhance communications and compliance around review requirements for the public disclosure of research materials, a single set of review requirements has been agreed upon by Population Data BC and our Data Steward partners. These are summarised in the table below.

Review Requirements

Required acknowledgement language

As part of your Research Agreement obligations the following minimum wording is required on all materials intended for public disclosure which result from a research project coordinated by Population Data BC.

“List the name(s) of the public body (bodies) providing the data here*” approved access to and use of the data facilitated by Population Data BC for this study.

Example: The BC Ministry of Health and WorkSafeBC approved access to and use of the data facilitated by Population Data BC for this study.

*The correct names for each of the public bodies with holdings at Population Data BC are as follows:

• The BC Cancer Agency
• The BC Ministry of Health
• The BC Vital Statistics Agency
• The Human Early Learning Partnership
• WorkSafeBC

Principles

Research Agreement outlines commitments for review: The Research Agreement that is signed between the public body and the researcher outlines the researcher’s legal obligation to submit  Research Materials for review. Failure to comply puts the researcher in breach of this agreement, and could render the researcher ineligible to access the public body’s data again in the future.

Research Materials to colleagues: Sharing of results or outputs pre-release with team members and colleagues is an important part of the research process. In order to maintain the status as not being public, thus not requiring review, it is expected that the information is kept confidential amongst colleagues. Acknowledgement of this in presentations is expected. 

Coordination occurs through Population Data BC: Researchers are asked to ensure that Population Data BC is cc’d on submissions to Data Steward(s). This allows PopData to a) track Research Products and support public dissemination of the materials, and b) ensure that there is a uniform coordination of the Research Materials review process, including ensuring that all Data Stewards involved in a project receive the submission. Population Data BC is also willing to distribute to Data Stewards on the researcher’s behalf.   

Changes in content for presentations: Data Stewards recognize that Research Materials such as conference presentations may change after submission for review. That said, they also need to know what information about the project has been made public. It is requested that the researcher commit to as final a draft as possible for review, notify the Data Steward of any material changes, and then to share the document actually presented. 

Definitions

Data Steward: The position that is responsible for the stewardship of a Public Body’s data holdings, usually including approval of requests for access to data for research purposes.

Research Materials for Data Steward Review (“Research Materials”): Includes Research Outputs and Products from results of research, whether complete or not, intended for any public dissemination and may include, but is not limited to: theses, dissertations, journal submissions, books and book sections, conference abstracts and presentations, seminars, lectures, newspaper articles, web output, blogs, op-ed pieces and interviews (both written and audio / visual.)

This defines what needs to be reviewed by the relevant Data Stewards as per the Research Agreement

Colleague: Someone who shares research-related interests.Communications to a colleague are not expected to go public or get distributed. Colleagues may be both within or outside the same institution; both within or outside the same research centre or work unit.

See also: Referencing Population Data BC