Legal and regulatory restrictions of published data: dealing with concerns

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7896759

Concerns are raised about datasets after publication such as intellectual property, research, or handling regulations. The flowchart offers data publishers, such as a journal or a data repository, a step by step guide on how to handle these concerns.

This flowchart has been developed by the FORCE11 and COPE Research Data Publishing Working Group.

Key points

Legal or regulatory concerns and datasets may relate to:

• Disputes over intellectual property.
• A breach of a national or legal framework.
• International regulations around research practice.
• International regulations around data handling.

Related resources

• Legal and regulatory restrictions of unpublished data: dealing with concerns COPE flowchart
• Concerns about risk in unpublished data COPE flowchart
• Concerns about risk in published data COPE flowchart
• Authorship and contributorship of unpublished data: dealing with concerns COPE flowchart 
• Authorship and contributorship of published data: dealing with concerns COPE flowchart 
• Scientific rigour of unpublished data: dealing with concerns COPE flowchart
• Scientific rigour of published data: dealing with concerns COPE flowchart
• Recommendations for the handling of ethical concerns relating to the publication of research data Joint FORCE11 & COPE Research Data Publishing Ethics Working Group recommendations
• Policy template text for data publishers, journals and data repositories Joint FORCE11 & COPE Research Data Publishing Ethics Working Group templates