EconJobMarket.org Research Data Usage Policy

This Data Usage Policy (the "Policy") establishes the terms that govern how Econ Job Market ("EJM") allows parties ("Researchers") to access and use data collected and stored by Econ Job Market ("Data") to conduct research.

I. Acceptance of Policy terms

By accessing/using the Data, Researchers accept and agree to abide by the terms of this Policy.

Proposals for research data usage must be submitted by faculty Principal Investigators as representatives of their university employers.  Before review by EJM, proposals must receive approval from the proposer’s university human-subject research board/committee (or equivalent), including commitments to maintain confidentiality and to ensure no personally identifiable information is shared with other parties or otherwise made public.  Proposals are reviewed by EJM’s panel of experts and officers.  EJM at its sole discretion shall decide whether to provide access to data and, if so, the terms and conditions for such data usage.

II. Modification of Policy terms

EJM may modify the terms of this Policy at any time.  However, any modifications to this Policy will be effective only for access subsequent to such modification.  No modifications will supersede any previous terms that were in effect at the time of Researcher’s access.

III. Use of the Data

1.  Use of the Data is for approved academic purposes only and for use in projects, publications, research, or other related work as approved by EJM in writing.  Researchers agree to not use or disclose the Data for any other purpose.

2.  To be granted access to the Data, Researchers must submit a detailed proposal ("Project"), formally agree to a signed "Econ Job Market Research Data Use Agreement" with EJM, and agree to and abide by the EJM Privacy Notice terms, EJM’s Terms of Use, this Data Usage Policy and any additional written limitations required by EJM.  Research agreements are made with universities and require a faculty Principal Investigator.  Researchers agree to pay the reasonable costs for access to EJM servers, operation of any needed Virtual Data Enclaves, and for time spent by EJM to prepare research data.

3.  Research results shall be submitted to EJM for review and approval prior to circulation outside the team of named authors on the Project, where "circulation" includes but is not limited to presentations, publications, and dissemination by any other means.  EJM’s review of research results shall be solely to determine that Researchers have, and will continue to, abided by all of the requirements for their use of the Data including their governing Econ Job Market Research Data Use Agreement, the EJM Privacy Notice, EJM’s Terms of Use, and this Policy.

4.  No commercial use of the Data is permitted under any circumstances.

5.  Research must be published in publicly available venues.  Every publication must contain a statement, in a prominent location, that acknowledges and thanks EJM for use of the Data.

6.  All Data must be returned to EJM or deleted upon completion of the proposed research project or the termination date specified by EJM in its acceptance of the Project, whichever comes first.  Researchers must provide a signed affidavit attesting to destruction and/or return of the data upon project completion.

IV. Restrictions

Generally, Researchers cannot access personally identifiable information but instead must submit data queries for EJM staff to run that will produce an aggregated version of the requested data by creating cells large enough to preserve confidentiality, and EJM will provide an aggregated version of personally identifiable information.  In cases where EJM determines that it is impractical for EJM staff to perform the required data aggregation, Researchers may be asked to perform some of these steps under strict standards whereby they commit not to incorporate confidential information and to destroy or return source data immediately following the aggregation procedure.

Researchers cannot:

1.  (a) obtain information from the Data that results in Researchers or any third party(ies) directly or indirectly identifying individuals or any personally identifiable information from the Data, with or without the aid of other information acquired elsewhere; (b) produce connections or links among the information included in the Data and other third-party information that could be used to identify any individuals or organizations; (c) extract information from the Data that could aid Researcher in gaining knowledge about or obtaining any means of contacting any individuals; (d) report or publish any statistics or other information from data cells that contain fewer than the minimal number of observations specified by their Econ Job Market Research Data Use Agreement ("Minimal Cell Count"), where "cells" refers to any subset of Data that contributes to a specific statistic; and (e) report or publish any statistics or other information from data cells that can be used to identify any individuals or organizations.

2.  Use the Data in any way not identified in its Project or in violation of any restrictions required by EJM.

V. Representations and Warranties

RESEARCHERS WARRANT THAT: (A) RESEARCHERS ARE NOT BOUND BY ANY PRE-EXISTING LEGAL OBLIGATIONS OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAWS THAT PREVENT RESEARCHERS FROM ACCESSING AND/OR USING THE DATA;  RESEARCHERS WILL NOT USE THE DATA IN ANY WAY PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAWS; (B) RESEARCHERS WARRANT THAT, IF EJM PROVIDES THE DATA IN A FORM THAT CONTAINS PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION, ANY USE OF THE DATA WILL FIRST DE-IDENTIFY ALL HUMAN SUBJECT DATA AND REMOVE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION; AND (C) RESEARCHERS REPRESENT THAT REASONABLE AND APPROPRIATE SECURITY MEASURES WILL BE TAKEN TO SAFEGUARD THE DATA, AND ANY DATA BREACH INVOLVING THE DATA WILL BE REPORTED TO EJM IMMEDIATELY UPON DISCOVERY BY RESEARCHERS.

EJM REPRESENTS THAT IT HAS ALL RIGHTS REQUIRED TO MAKE AVAILABLE AND DISTRIBUTE THE DATA. EXCEPT FOR SUCH REPRESENTATION, THE DATA IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY ANY COURSE OF PERFORMANCE OR USAGE OF TRADE, ALL OF WHICH ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EJM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT: (A) THE DATA ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE OR CORRECT; (B) THE DATA FILES WILL BE SECURE; (C) THE DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME OR LOCATION; (D) ANY DEFECTS OR ERRORS WILL BE CORRECTED; (E) THE DATA AND ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS; OR (F) THE RESULTS OF USING THE DATA WILL MEET RESEARCHERS’ REQUIREMENTS. RESEARCHERS’ USE OF THE DATA IS SOLELY AT RESEARCHERS’ OWN RISK.

VI. Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL EJM BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, NEGLIGENCE OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY WITH RESPECT TO THE DATA (I) FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES, OR (II) FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER.