Documents
Concordat on Open Research Data (PDF)
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Details
The Concordat on Open Research Data aims to help to ensure that the research data gathered and generated by members of the UK research community is made openly available for use by others wherever possible in a manner consistent with relevant legal, ethical, disciplinary and regulatory frameworks and norms, and with due regard to the costs involved.
The concordat was published in July 2016 and developed by a UK multistakeholder group, including Wellcome, Universities UK, Research Councils UK (RCUK) and The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which represented all the UK higher education funding bodies.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) replaced HEFCE (via Research England) RCUK in 2018, and currently hosts the concordat.
The UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) Sustainable and Transparent Research Data (STAR) Study and the Research Concordats and Agreements Review have looked at the implementation of the concordat. Next steps for the concordat will be considered, as part of UKRI’s research data policy implementation plan.
Updates
- 14 October 2026
Note added to Annex 2 to signpost current policies and resources.