Skip to content
MyData Login/Create Account

Responsible Use Statement

See Also

Before downloading any dataset from the ICPSR Web site (or the Web sites of the Special Topic Archives), users are instructed to read the following:

In preparing data for public release, ICPSR performs a number of procedures to ensure that the identity of research subjects cannot be disclosed. For example, direct identifiers are omitted from datasets, and some characteristics are recoded or masked if they can be combined with others to identify individuals.

Any intentional identification or disclosure of a person or establishment violates the assurances of confidentiality given to the providers of the information. Therefore, users of data obtained from the ICPSR archive and/or any of its special topic archives agree:

  • To use these datasets solely for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information, and not for investigation of specific individuals or organizations, except when identification is authorized in writing by ICPSR

  • To make no use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently, and to advise ICPSR of any such discovery

  • To produce no links among ICPSR datasets or among ICPSR data and other datasets that could identify individuals or organizations

  • To comply with the request that downloaded material not be redistributed or sold to other individuals, institutions, or organizations without the written agreement of ICPSR

ICPSR further asks that any books, articles, conference papers, theses, dissertations, reports, or other publications that employ data or other resources provided by ICPSR reference the bibliographic citation provided in the abstract and codebook for each ICPSR data collection. These citations acknowledge the principal investigators, the data producers, and ICPSR as the data distributor, in accord with recommended citation procedures for computer files in the social sciences. Also, authors of publications based on ICPSR data should send copies of their published works or references to the publications to ICPSR for inclusion in a database of related publications.

In addition, the user acknowledges that the original collector of the data, ICPSR, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

By continuing past this point to the data retrieval process, you signify your agreement to comply with the above-stated requirements and give your assurance that the use of statistical data obtained from ICPSR and/or its Special Topic Archives will conform to widely-accepted standards of practice and legal restrictions that are intended to protect the confidentiality of research subjects.

^ top of page