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Research Data Agreements

The University processes data agreements for funded and unfunded research conducted under the auspices of WVU and for other projects that may not meet the federal definition of research.

Notes about data agreements:

  • PIs and Department Chairs are not authorized to sign data agreements regardless of type and risk on behalf of the University except for publicly available data.
  • Research or projects such as Quality Improvement sponsored by the WVU Health System that require data agreements should contact the WVU Health System General Counsel Office.
  • Understand the risk related to the data to avoid delays 

Is a data agreement needed?

Review this guidance to determine the risk and if a data agreement is needed for the transfer or sharing of data when conducting research.

How to request a data agreement:

Beginning on January 13, 2025:

Funded Research and Research Agreements - Data agreements will be initiated by the office processing the agreement, no action is needed by the researcher.  

Unfunded Research - Data agreements can be requested by researchers in the Agreements Module of the WVU Research Administration Portal (WRAP).

PROCESS CHANGE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH: The Human Research Data Protection process will no longer notify the agreement offices that a data agreement review is needed.  The Data Protection Certificate will remind the researcher to request the data agreement if data transfer/share is selected on the form.

Incoming Data 

Copies of research data that will be transferred into WVU from an external data source may require a data agreement. Please consider the following to avoid delays:

  • Documentation may be requested from the data source stating than an agreement is not required, please obtain this information before requesting a data agreement.
  • If external collaborators will be added to WVU systems to share the data, an agreement may be needed depending on the risk category of the data. 
  • Identifiable clinical data from any external source will be treated as high-risk (sensitive data by WVU) regardless of the data agreement requirements unless the data is de-identified by the source (this does not include coded or limited data sets at WVU). 
  • Data from the WVU Health System medical record systems used by University staff for research, does not require a data agreement. A master agreement exists with WVU to use the data for research.  Other clinical data from other systems may require permission from the Health System before it can be used for research.

Outgoing Data

Copies of research data that will be transferred to an external entity may require a data agreement.  

Please consider the following to avoid delays:

  • Refer to this guidance to determine if a Data Agreement is needed or if a review is needed to make the determination.
  • Federally funded data deposited into a third-party repository at the end of an award or contract will require a WVU data agreement or an agreement by the repository.
  • If WVU staff will be added as collaborators to external systems to share data, the external entity may require any agreement, if an agreement is not required, WVU may request supporting documentation.

Sharing Data/Collaboration

A data agreement may be needed when adding external collaborators to access research data. Refer to this guidance for more information.