This page is part of MIT's Guidelines for Ethical Authorship and Publication Practices.
Good data management and security is a key part of responsible research at MIT. The Principal Investigator or faculty supervisor typically serves as the data steward and is responsible for ensuring that research data and its supporting information are well organized, securely stored, properly documented, readily available and shared in line with MIT policies, sponsor requirements, and legal and ethical standards.
When students, postdoctoral associates or fellows, staff or others, including visitors, conducting research at MIT leave the Institute or transfer to another group or institution, they need to meet with their faculty supervisor or PI prior to departure to ensure that all pertinent activities and original data are properly inventoried, and that all original IP (materials and supporting information - both physical and electronic) are retained by MIT. Researchers may take a copy of the MIT-owned IP only with the express permission of their faculty supervisor or PI.
Keeping clear records of data provenance—where data comes from, how it was created, and how it’s used—is especially important, and MIT offers and strongly recommends the use of LabArchives, a multi-disciplinary Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN), to support this work. For guidance or support, including consultations for writing Data Management Plans, researchers are encouraged to contact the MIT Libraries’ Data Management Services team at data-management@mit.edu.