Research Data

In terms of the UCT IP Policy, UCT is the legal owner of research data emanating from research done by its researchers. Furthermore, other than for specifically commissioned works, in terms of the UCT IP Policy, UCT automatically assigns the rights to IP creator(s).  These works include material such as video clips, recordings, figures, drawings, designs and diagrams, written material (e.g. a full paper if desired/permitted, or notes). Such material, when created during the process of a research project undertaken through UCT, may also be considered research data. UCT grants the UCT affiliated individual, or the depositor, the right to upload UCT research data, if the data complies with all ethical requirements (e.g. patient confidentiality, UCT Intellectual Property (IP) Policy consent, etc.).  Where data has been created in conjunction with researchers outside of UCT, the necessary permission(s) should be sought from the relevant institutions by the depositor, prior to the upload of data.

Where data may not be shared publicly (e.g. due to ethical consideration), controlled access should be applied to the item on ZivaHub Open Data UCT.

Depositors are encouraged to submit their data files in formats that promote interoperability.

Software

In terms of the UCT IP Policy, UCT is the legal owner of software emanating from research done by its researchers. UCT grants permission for software created by UCT affiliated individuals, depositors, or researchers to be published under an Open Source licence. It is the depositor’s responsibility to ensure that the license selected is not in conflict with other open-source licence(s) that may govern code included in the software.  If a conflict exists an appropriate alternative software distribution platform should be selected.

Metadata

All depositors of data to ZivaHub, Open Data UCT are required to complete a set of mandatory metadata alongside their data/software prior to submitting for publication.

• Title: Brief contextual name describing the data/software
• Author(s): names of individuals responsible for the creation of the data/software
• Categories: the categories of knowledge where the research resides (dropdown)
• Group: the name of the individual’s research group within UCT (dropdown)
• Item type: the type of item being created (selected from dropdown)
• Keywords: 5 to 10 phrases which can be used for users to find the item
• Description: a detailed description of the data/software, a description of the research project and a description of the files included within the item
• Licence: a selected Creative Commons or open source licence
• Department: the name of the individual’s affiliated group within UCT (free text)

• they are the sole rights holder and/or they have received the right/permission from the rights holder(s) to publish the materials, i.e.:
  • if the depositor is not the copyright holder and the material is copyrighted, the depositor acknowledges that they have received permission from the rights holder to publish the copyright material openly and have adhered to the conditions under which the copyright holder has granted publication rights. e.g. acknowledged the original creator of the work and/or licensed the work under specified conditions
  • where the depositor is not the sole IP creator, that written permission approving the deposit has been received from all the IP creators, and in the case of video material that the necessary image releases have been obtained from people appearing in the videos
• the material is not false, defamatory, nor in breach of any South African law
• the material does not contain confidential, or sensitive, human subject-related information, unless such information is adequately protected and/or coded/encrypted as per conditions determined by the approving research ethics committee.
• the material does not contain commercial information without written proof of their authority to do so
• the material has not been previously published under a restrictive licence.

UCT will review all items submitted for publication on ZivaHub, ensuring compliance with institutional requirements and policies. 

• Items passing review will be published on ZivaHub with appropriate access levels, as indicated by depositor. 
• Items which do not pass review will be returned to the depositor for further adjustments prior to publication.

After publication, UCT may take down any item without notice if any of the items contained within the publication are in breach of any of the above, or:

• if the data includes work that is found to be fraudulent, falsified, plagiarised or against the FAIR principles of Open Science
• the depositor has requested to have the data removed from the repository provided that the request is accompanied by a reasonable motivation approved by the Research Data Management Governance Committee in terms of its mandate to approve exceptions to the public release of data for legal, ethical and commercial reasons  
• If UCT or the depositor choose to remove the data from the repository, the metadata may be retained in the repository to trace the original DOI and indicate that the removal was deliberate. Furthermore, UCT may retain a copy of the data for archival and reference purposes

• Intellectual Property Policy (2011)
• Open Access Policy (2020)
• Research Data Management Policy (2018)

Owner: Digital Library Services, University of Cape Town Libraries