The Tool
Practical activity assignment
- Read the MIT VPR’s guidelines on Authorship, Data Ownership, and Training and the policies on Copyright for PhD theses (you may have to scroll down to find it). VPR is responsible for handling any formal disputes about these issues. Is there any information here you didn’t know? That you think more people should know? What do you think of these policies?
- Check your lab’s documentation (lab manual, mentorship agreements). Is there an explicit discussion of how data, tools, scripts etc. can be used? Does it specifically address what should happen after researchers are no longer affiliated with the lab? You can compare to the “useful resources” we have linked below, for reference. Share what you find.
- Draft text for (i) your own future lab’s guide or manual, (ii) your current lab’s manual or guide, or (iii) your own ‘departing the lab’ agreement with your current PI. Try to specify which kinds of scientific products are created in the collaboration, who has the rights to re-use them (first author? all authors? creator? PI?), who has to give approval for that use (first author? all authors? PI?), and whether there are any time limits on those obligations. Will you share materials you create with specific licenses? Which license will you use and why?
Useful resources and links
Collaborations: defining roles and rights
- ManyBabies projects Collaborations - Definitions, responsibilities, expectations – Version 2.0.
- ManyBabies Policies on Derived Projects and Presentations.
- National Cancer Institute’s Field Guide to Team Science.
- UK data service: Data management roles and responsibilities.
- Belmont Forum Step-By-Step User Guide for Building a Successful Data Management Plan.
- Aly, M. (2018). “The key to a happy lab life is in the manual " Nature, 561(7721), 7-8.
- Larivière, V., Pontille, D., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2021). “Investigating the division of scientific labor using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT).” Quantitative Science Studies, 2(1), 111-128.
- Forscher, P. S., Wagenmakers, E., Coles, N. A., et al. (2020, May 20). “The Benefits, Barriers, and Risks of Big Team Science.” PsyArXiv.
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (2006). Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (PDF); Chapter 12: SETTING UP COLLABORATIONS.
- Primack, R. B., Cigliano, J. A., & Parsons, C. (2019). Co-authors gone bad – how to avoid publishing conflicts. Elsevier Editorial.
Licensing
- Guide to choosing a Creative Commons license.
- Open Knowledge Foundation: Guide to Open Data Licensing.
- Belmont Forum: Data Management Best Practices & Standards: Licensing.
- OSF guide to choosing a license for pre-registration.
- Ethical licenses.
- Coalition S Rights Retention strategy All research articles which arise from funding from a cOAlition S Organisation must be licensed CC BY. And a long blog post that aims to explain RRS.
