Write a Data Sharing Agreement

A Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) is a convention between research partners and/or third parties that sets out a number of details about how the data will be formatted, but also how it will be (re)used and shared in the future (how the data can be used and for what purpose).

The DSA mentions the sources and ownership of the data and acknowledges the responsibilities of the partners. Additional information can be added, such as versioning, naming, embargo period, etc.

Are you planning to share data with people outside your research team? At UCLouvain, we recommend that you draw up a DSA. DSAs may differ depending on the type of data, the recipient party and the use that will be made of it.

This page presents good practice and information on the elements that should be present in a DSA. However, it does not provide legal advice: we strongly recommend that you contact a legal advisor at your university to ensure the quality of your DSA.

What should be included in a Data Sharing Agreement?

1. Title: this should contain the name of the agreement, of the author (the person disclosing the data), and of the receiving party. 

2. Introduction: this should contain: 

a. a brief description of the data and the type of data (personal, sensitive, anonymised, pseudonymised). Are there any other documents (metadata, data documentation or description) that need to be shared with the data? 

b. the purpose of the data collection and sharing, and the way data will be used by the receiving party. Are there any exclusions / restrictions ? Will the data be merged with other datasets?

c. the name of the research project in which the data was collected (grant ?). 

d. any relevant regulation that apply to the data (university code of conduct, RGPD, etc.). If your data are concerned by RGPD, please consult our specific webpage, or contact the University's Data Protection Officer. Indeed, the presence of this type of data will affect the DSA as a whole. Further information on legal and ethical aspects can be found here.

3. Access provisions: who will have the rights to access the data? Who has the right to change or modify the data? What methods will be used to access the data? 

4. Confidentiality: how will the data be protected (IT solutions, encryption, non-disclosure agreements, etc.). What method of transfer, storage, will be used? How will the data be preserved for long term? Will it be destroyed?

5. Third parties: for what purposes can the data be used? Can it be shared with third parties (and which ones) and under what conditions? 

6. Publication/dissemination/sharing of data: is any party allowed to share, publish or disseminate any insight of the data (which data, for what purpose, to whom?). Specify whether secondary use or disclosure by the receiving party is possible. Will this be a one-time disclosure or an on-going disclosure (e.g. annual)?

7. Ownership: state that the data still belong to your university (or additional owner if appropriate), and when they will be returned. Specify under what circumstances the agreement may be terminated. 

8. Authority - Responsibility: names, signatures and other legal aspects.

Please contact Marie-Anne Crijns (ADRE/RJUR, marie-anne.crijns@uclouvain.be) for legal advice.