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Press Release
PRIM&R Comments on Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories
March 3, 2020
On January 17, 2020, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a Request for Public Comment on Draft Desirable Characteristics of Repositories for Managing and Sharing Data Resulting From Federally Funded Research. PRIM&R submitted comments on March 2, 2020, that included the following points.
The OSTP's proposed recommendations on repository governance issues are a welcome step in the right direction in terms of harmonizing policies and enhancing responsible research.
All data repositories should have a mechanism for ensuring credit for data generators, which will incentivize researchers to share their data in the spirit of open science.
Repositories with human data should have "plans for addressing violations of terms-of-use by users and data mismanagement by the repository,” and these plans should construe “terms-of-use” as broadly as possible (and explicitly include research service agreements).
The “Fidelity to Consent” consideration as written is likely to provide insufficient guidance; OSTP should make clear that repositories that store human data have a responsibility to establish mechanisms for attaching permissions granted in the original consent, as machine-readable metadata, to the data itself.
Read PRIM&R’s official comments.
About PRIM&R
Since 1974, PRIM&R has advanced the highest ethical standards in the conduct of research. We accomplish this mission through education, membership services, professional certification, public policy initiatives, and community building. PRIM&R is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Find out more at www.primr.org
Media Contact:
Daniel McLean
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Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R)
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dmclean@primr.org
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