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There are two intertwining perspectives and roles related to agreeing on rights: the producer of the data and their user. If these are not one and the same legal entity, it is necessary to agree on the matter, so that the data can be released for use and, on the other hand, used safely. This is especially important if copyrighted data is used or provided to the research. This ensures the researchers' legal protection and access to the data, even in unexpected problem situations.

In addition, several funders require an agreement or transfer of rights to the organization implementing the research as part of their funding conditions. If the employee has a rights transfer agreement attached to his employment contract, the rights to the data in such studies are automatically transferred to the university. If there is no rights transfer agreement, the matter can be agreed with a project-specific agreement. Also, in many cases, the funding or consortium agreements themselves contain clauses on the transfer of rights.

If students are involved in the collection or use of the data, in these cases it is always necessary to agree on the assignment of the rights to the data to the project, as well as the students' rights of use and their limits. This ensures the project's rights to the collected data.

Agreements should be drawn up as early as possible and should be updated if necessary in connection with personnel changes or changes in circumstances. It is the responsibility of the responsible manager of the project to ensure that all participants in the project transfer their rights to the university before signing the project contract or at the latest before starting the work defined in the contract.

The rights transfer agreement must always be drawn up in the following:

• Projects funded by the Research Council of Finland
• Projects financed by Business Finland
• EU research programs
• order studies. 

JYU has agreement models for different cases. 

• Which data are intended to be handed over for further use?
• If one or more researchers have brought previous research data to the research project, will this be included in the material handed over for further use?
• When can the data or parts of it be handed over for further use? (For example, a predetermined schedule or the completion of publications)
• For what purposes will the data be handed over (only for research or also for teaching and study use)?
• Who has the right to enter into an archiving agreement for research data?
• Do you want to set conditions for further use by means of a license or other terms of use?
• If you want to make further use subject to a permit, who decides on granting the permit?

You can get more information and advice on drafting contracts from the JYU Legal Services. 

If the research data contains personal data and it is processed by other than the members of the team formed by the researchers of the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, it may be necessary to agree on a joint data controller or on the processing of personal data.

If the research data has special confidentiality needs due to its sensitivity, it may be necessary to agree separately with the collectors of the material (e.g. students) and users/processors (e.g. transcribers) on the secrecy and confidentiality of the data.

It is easiest to find out about the contracts and rights of the data by opening the data and giving it a machine-readable, quantitative license that tells the user directly how to work with the data.

Data sets created in contract projects can also be licensed with an open use license, and several major research funders impose obligations in this regard. When opening research data and agreeing on usage rights, you should always take into account the possible restrictions on the use of the data set by legislation and research ethics.

More about licensing data

The Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ has (in 09/24, only in Finnish, the English translation is under way) that transfers the rights to use copyrighted data for the university's project and research activities. Consent is then given unilaterally by the copyright holder, such as the subject participating in the study, whose data created is intended to be used in the study. The form can be used to regulate the extent to which the copyright holder transfers the rights to use the work.

If you want to publish or archive copyrighted data that someone else than you have created, it is of primary importance to take care of the transfer of rights to the extent that opening is possible.