About research data

Your research results are based on research data

Material on which scientific analysis is based is considered research data. Research data are all data that you produce or collect within your research. For your research to be credible, it is important that you manage data in a correct and structured manner, so that others can review and verify your results.

What is considered research data?

Research data can be

• text documents;
• spreadsheets;
• audio recordings;
• photographs;
• videos;
• registries;
• databases; and
• websites.

Research data also include material that others have collected and that you reuse in a project.

In certain research areas, other terms are used for material used during the research process. For example, artistic research more often calls this an artistic process, where artistic material or early sketches can at times be considered research data.

Research data are official documents

Umeå University is an authority and is subject to the principle of public access to official documents. This means research data are official documents at the University. If someone requests access to information held by Umeå University, you will have to determine whether the information is in an official document and whether the document is classified as secret.

More information about official documents on Aktum (UMU ID required)

Read more about secrecy for research data

When does research material become official documents?

A document is public if it is stored by an authority and is to be considered as having been received or created by that authority.

• Manuscripts, reports and articles become official documents when they are published. The fact that such a document is sent for peer review does not in itself make the document public.
• Lab notes and similar information that is kept on an ongoing basis become official documents when they are entered into a registry, such as a laboratory diary.
• Responses to surveys, registry data from authorities, patient data etc. become official documents when they are received by Umeå University, for example when they are submitted or registered in an IT system to which researchers at Umeå University have access.
• Audio and film recordings are official documents when they are ready for analysis. If the recording is transcribed and it is the transcription that is analysed in the research, the recording can be considered working material and instead the transcription constitutes an official document when it is ready for analysis. This assumes that the transcription is of sufficient quality that no information from the recording is lost.

Who owns research data?

Simply put, it is the authority where the research is conducted that owns the material, including the research data. This means that Umeå University is responsible for the research data that you collect or create.

If you stop working at Umeå University

If your employment at Umeå University comes to an end, the research data remains with the University. This means that if you want to continue the project at another workplace, you need to request the data. The relevant heads of department at the different universities will determine how to manage a research project when changing universities.

If you change employment within Umeå University

If you change to another position within Umeå University, the handover is not considered a release of official documents. The relevant heads of departments will have to agree on how to manage archival responsibility for the documents. Document the agreement in an appropriate manner, for example in the project description or the project’s data management plan.

Requesting research data

If you want to use research data from another authority, you need to request the data. In these cases, a secrecy examination is always conducted before the documents are released. In most cases, it is possible to obtain documents for research purposes even if they are classified as secret.

What to consider when requesting research data

When releasing research data to an authority, there are not the same requirements for prompt processing of the request as when documents are requested under the principle of public access to information. For this reason, make these requests well in advance to ensure you receive the research data you need.

If the documents you request contain sensitive personal data or personal data on violations of the law, you need to be able to present an approved ethical review that covers the information you have requested to access.

Research data may be classified as secret either through secrecy provisions that Umeå University must apply in its capacity as the entity responsible for the research or through transferred secrecy.

Read more about secrecy and research data

Contact the research data support team with questions about secrecy.

Use your umu.se email address

Always use your umu.se email address when requesting documents in your work. Private email domains do not have the same security as the University’s. Sending documents covered by secrecy to private email addresses or other email domains constitutes an unauthorised breach of secrecy and a breach of professional secrecy. Also important in this respect, the releasing authority does not charge a fee when the request comes from Umeå University.