University of Victoria Guidelines on Community-Based
Research Data in Borealis
Last Updated: January 22, 2025
For any questions or support with Dataverse, contact askus@uvic.ca.
To outline a framework for creating a collection dedicated to community-based research data in the University of Victoria’s instance of Borealis.
While we generally encourage all data deposited into Borealis to be made openly accessible, we understand that not all data, especially that which results from community-based research projects, can be made openly accessible in a way that is respectful and beneficial to all those involved. The UVic Libraries strongly advocate for principles of data justice, which acknowledge the historical and ongoing ways of collecting and sharing data that erase, misrepresent, or harm marginalized communities, and seek to redress and prevent further harm to communities. We also endorse the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. As such, the UVic Libraries are happy to work with you to determine how Borealis may be set up to best accommodate data sharing for community-based research projects to promote these principles. This can include:
Establishing separate collections within or separate from the main UVic Dataverse Collection
Creating custom licensing and terms of use for datasets
Supporting file access restrictions and data access requests
Supporting alternative curation workflows, including where dataset review and approval rests within the research team
Adaptable approaches to dataset removal and restricted access to support a process of ongoing consent
Because there can be many considerations and nuances when creating a collection for community-based research data, we request you to reach out to us at askus@uvic.ca if you are interested in using Borealis for this purpose. We have also added some questions below to guide you through some initial considerations that will help situate the conversation.
Do the appropriate data sharing agreements/memorandums of understanding exist between you/your research team and the relevant communities to permit the sharing of community-based research data on Borealis?
If the data you are depositing into Borealis involves human participants, human biological materials or data under the security of an institution, have you received approval to deposit this data from the UVic human research ethics board?
If the data you are depositing into Borealis will have restricted access, what criteria must be met in order to grant access? An example access process can be found at the CBRC Data Access Process
Will community members be involved with mediating deposits, curation data, and/or publishing datasets?
Do you foresee reasons why data shared on Borealis may need to be withdrawn at some point in the future? We understand that when working with community partners, willingness to share data can change over time. We encourage you to read through the UVic Borealis Deaccession Guidelines, and to reach out to us for further discussion.
Responsibilities and Expectations
UVic Libraries will:
Provide curation services for all research materials deposited into the Borealis collection, and publish materials that meet expectations for depositors.
Provide onboarding training to researchers/community partners, and respond to respond to questions that may arise.
Prepare Memorandums of Understanding, data sharing agreements, or other agreements with research groups. These will clarify, among any other requirements, roles and responsibilities between both parties, and provide a clear reference to data ownership, licensing statement, and data access conditions.
Consider deaccession requests at our discretion, unless otherwise specified in an MOU or other agreement.
Researchers / community members with access to the collection will:
Read and abide by all relevant Borealis policies, including:
Read and abide by all relevant UVic Libraries policies:
Manage appropriate sharing agreements and other documents with community partners.
Provide long-term contact information for a project representative. If for whatever reason the representative changes, it is the responsibility of the research team to provide updated contact information.
Ahluwalia, A., Bean, C., Chachram, M., Chan, R., Cheang, R., Cheng, S., Chindea, V., ConradKilgallen, K., Cooey-Hurtado, L., Correa, K., Dresselhuis, A., James, E., Kim, C., Knight, K., Mozolevych, N., Poissant, J., Sarvini, J., Tomar, B., Traboulay, A. (2022). Community-Based Research & Data Justice Resource Guide. Gender + in Research Collective at ORICE UBC, Vancouver, BC.
Borealis. Terms of Use. https://borealisdata.ca/termsofuse/
Community Based Research Centre. CBRC Data Access Process. https://www.cbrc.net/cbrc_data_access_process
University of Victoria Dataverse Collection Deposit Guidelines
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