2.4 Data Access Policies

This section refers to policies that an archive needs to apply when providing users with access to the data and other resources it holds. Thus, the main policies to be presented include data access and collection policies for designated user communities. Data archives usually maintain different data access conditions and subsequently, maintain different policies.

Taking into consideration the statement of Principle 11 in the CESSDA Data Access Policy that “Access conditions to data shall, by 2022, be fully interoperable”, it means that data access policies are situated at the core of every archive’s operations (Bolton, Sharon 2022; Woollard, Matthew, L’Hours, Hervé, and Beedham, Hilary 2016). As of now, there are three levels of access, depending on the nature of the data and agreements with data depositors:

1. Open access to data: Data holdings can be accessed by users at any time and by any means. No registration or authentication is needed and usually, data are subject to an open data licence (such as CC, Creative Commons n.d.).
2. Restricted data access (access under conditions):
   1. Standard access: Data holdings are fully anonymized and available for scientific purposes, upon registration. They may be accessed without special permissions from the data depositor, i.e. free access via an ordering system, by email or online. Registered users must accept the End User Licence (EUL) of the archive.
   2. Special conditions access: Data are published, and the user may gain access to them following the data depositor’s requirements (e.g. written approval). In the case of written approval, a data access form, which includes the given data access conditions and presupposes written permission to access the data, will be provided. By default, the user must sign the End User License agreement to gain access to the material.
   3. Access under special licence: Data that contain detailed information and are usually not fully anonymized require users to complete a detailed special licence form describing in detail the terms of using that data.
3. Controlled data access: the archive reserves the right to permit access to data only through a physical or virtual secure environment or after special training. This applies to data that are considered too confidential or sensitive to be released via downloading.

A key element in enabling data access is for data to have a unique and persistent identifier. A persistent identifier (PID) is a unique and permanent digital reference that makes it possible to find and reuse digital material. PIDs are used to reference digital objects such as documents, web pages and files. DOIs are one form of PIDs. 

An essential component of data access policies is the Persistent Identifier policy that a Data Repository implements to meet citation and visibility purposes (see also Chapter 2, 1. Data Collection and Acquisition Policies) and the CESSDA ERIC Persistent Identifier Policy (Hausstein, Brigitte et al. 2017).

Relevant sections from Chapter 1

1.1 What does an archive look like and what does it do?

1.6 How does an archive make data available?

Links to examples

Some good examples of data access policies are the following:

Regulating Access to Data. UKDS. https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legal-ethical/access-control.aspx

How to Get Data - Read Terms of Use. ADP. https://www.adp.fdv.uni-lj.si/eng/uporabi/kako/pravila/

Access levels and conditions. UKDS. https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/find-data/access-conditions/

Woollard, Matthew, L'Hours, Hervé, & Beedham, Hilary. (2016). CESSDA Data Access Policy (Version 1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4054793

Bolton, Sharon. (2022). CESSDA Data Access Policy (Version 2). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6722000 

Hausstein, Brigitte, Borschewski, Kerrin, Jerlehag, Birger, van Horik, René, & van der Vaart, Lilian. (2017). CESSDA ERIC Persistent Identifier Policy (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3611317