When advising researchers, questions such as "who may decide on the further use of research data, its dissemination or publication?" sometimes arise. Researchers often ask who “owns” research data.
Since there is no ownership of digital research data, the question should actually be: “Who has what rights to research data?”

The newly published article by our Liaison Librarian Dr. Andreas Hübner outlines various (legal) positions and makes them accessible to researchers, especially at German universities. The text refers to the German legal framework. Understanding these positions is crucial to reach, for example, documented agreements on rights of use for research data, as recommended by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

It was first published in English and is now also available in German:

• Hübner, A. (2024). Who „owns“ research data? Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11059314
• Hübner, A. (2024). Wem „gehören“ Forschungsdaten? Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11077412