Archiving agreement access categories
Researchers archiving their materials can choose the appropriate access category for their deposits in section 4 of the Archiving Agreement. The sections states that: "Customers of the data archive may have access to research material under the following conditions. Please select one of the options A, B, C or D."
Except for access category A, downloading data always requires registration with FSD. Customers from Finnish universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutes register with the credentials provided by their institution. Other customers (e.g. students and researchers from foreign universities) need to apply for a user ID from FSD to register as a customer.
The users of the archived material must always cite the material used in their output. FSD periodically sends a reminder message to those who have downloaded data under access categories B, C, and D to collect reference information of the publications based on the downloaded data.
Access category A
These data are available to anyone for any purpose. Access category A can be chosen in case legislation and ethical principles allow it. For example, Finnish copyright law prevents the use of materials compiled from newspaper articles under category A. Data protection legislation may also prevent depositors choosing access category A. For pseudonymous data, category A cannot be used. When the data is collected from human subjects, the most important ethical issue is that the research subjects have been clearly informed that the data will be made available to all, provided by FSD.
Category A data is licensed under CC BY 4.0, so data must always be properly cited in any publications and other outputs produced based on the data. This category is appropriate when the widest possible accessibility of the data is desired. As the category A data can be downloaded directly from Aila without registration, FSD does not collect any information about the data users or the purposes of use. However, it is possible to find out the total number of downloads per dataset. Customers often provide FSD with references to the publications they have produced using the downloaded data.
Access category B
The category B can be selected when the subjects of the research have been clearly informed that the data will be made available by FSD for research, teaching and studying purposes Examples of study purposes include methodological courses and bachelor theses. The most typical teaching purpose is courses on research methods. Thesis supervisors also download data for teaching purposes when they want to look at the data used by their students.
Access category C
These data are only available for research and higher theses In addition to research purposes, data in this category can be used for doctoral and Master's theses and University of Applied Sciences Master’s theses. Category C can be chosen when the research subjects have been clearly informed that the data will be made available for research, provided by FSD.
The category C is always selected for data covered by the license agreement between FSD and the copyright organisation Kopiosto. These kinds of data include, for example, textual and image data collected from newspapers or magazines.
Access category D
The data access requires permission from the data depositor and cannot be downloaded directly from Aila. Registered customers of FSD can apply for a permission to use the data in Aila. The data depositor decides on each permission request. If permission is granted, FSD makes the data downloadable to the customer.
The D category is suitable for data for which the main results have not yet been published. The permission process allows depositors to ensure that the intended research does not overlap with their own. In this case, the access category D is always temporary and is set in the archiving agreement to end based on the estimated publication date of the research results. After that, the access category is either A, B, or C, depending on what the research subjects have been informed about the further use of the data.
The D category is always used for pseudonymous data. These include, for example, longitudinal data for as long as the research team retains the personal data of the subjects; in practice, for as long as the longitudinal study lasts. At the end of the study, the personal data are destroyed by the research team. After that, the access category is either A, B, or C, depending on what the research subjects have been informed about the further use of the data.
The D category is also used for archived data in cases the personal data are retained by the research team for a limited period after the study has been completed. There are various justified reasons for research teams to retain personal data, even if the study is not a longitudinal study. In this case, the data are subject to the access authorisation process until the research team destroys the personal data, for example after 1-2 years. After that, the access category is either A, B, or C, depending on what the research subjects have been informed about the further use of the data.
The D category also applies when data are archived and disclosed for further use containing personal data (excluding media data). Archiving data with personal data is exceptional, but in certain cases, there are justified reasons to include personal identifiers in cultural or historical research data. For data archived with personal data, the access category is permanently D, i.e. the data is always subject to access authorization process.
The Data Management Guidelines contains guidance on informing the research subjects on data access and reuse in case the data are going to be anonymized or remain pseudonymous.