Terms and conditions
Our content
The UK Data Service is supported by the University of Essex, the University of Manchester, Jisc, University College London, and the University of Edinburgh, and is funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Economic and Social Research Council. Unless stated to the contrary, all material on this website is copyright of the UK Data Service. Content made available via this website may be used for personal research or educational purposes. Any other use, including commercial use or redistribution, requires permission from the UK Data Service.
We are always interested in maximising the availability of our work. If you are interested in pursuing a formal collaboration with us to reuse any of our content, please get in touch with one of our Directors to discuss.
Content licensed under Creative Commons
Some materials made available via this website, including guidance documents, templates, and training and user support materials, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
These materials are clearly identified and may be reused or adapted in accordance with the terms of the licence. Where reuse occurs, users must provide appropriate attribution to the UK Data Service, any other copyright holders as identified in the materials, and, where relevant, named contributors.
Use of UK Data Service data collection metadata
Data collection metadata and associated documentation are made available by the UK Data Service to support the discovery, access and understanding of data collections. We encourage their reuse in research, teaching and other appropriate contexts.
Under our deposit agreements, the UK Data Service has the right to publish and share metadata. Intellectual property in the original material remains with the relevant rights holders. The UK Data Service adds value through enhancements such as indexing and descriptive content. As a result, copyright in catalogue metadata is shared between the UK Data Service and the original rights holders.
Attribution requirements and clarity on our endorsement
Reuse of data collection metadata must be undertaken transparently and with appropriate acknowledgement. Users should credit the UK Data Service and the original rights holders. Where a standard data citation is available, this should be retained or referenced.
If you are working in a formal collaboration with us we will agree how to make this clear to third parties.
If you are not working in a formal collaboration with us please include wording to make clear that your reuse of our data collection metadata is not endorsed by us or the original rights holders; for example: “Metadata sourced from the UK Data Service, derived from original data producer submissions. Its reuse does not imply endorsement by the UK Data Service, the original data producers, rights holders or contributing organisations.”
Website content disclaimer
The UK Data Service makes all reasonable efforts to ensure that the content of its website is accurate and up to date, but can accept no responsibility for omissions, errors or subsequent changes.
The UK Data Service, the University of Essex, the University of Manchester, Jisc, University College London, and the University of Edinburgh accept no liability for any loss or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any use of the information or material contained on this website, or any site accessed from this site.
Conditions for accessing data and data citation requirements
Access to data collections is subject to specific licence agreements and conditions, which vary by collection. Details of access requirements and permitted use are provided within each collection’s catalogue record under the heading “Access study data”. Users are responsible for ensuring they understand and comply with the relevant terms of use and any conditions specified for each collection.
Any research output, whether printed, electronic or broadcast, based wholly or in part on data collections accessed through the UK Data Service must include appropriate citation and acknowledgement.
Each data collection includes a recommended citation within its catalogue record. Users should always follow this.
Further guidance on how to cite data is available in the New to using data guidance.