States that "Open dissemination of research results is a cornerstone of academic integrity"; refers to the University's research policy on restricted and proprietary research.

States that (with some exceptions) the institution retains ownership of research data, while investigators act as custodians or stewards of research data; spells out rights/responsibilities of University and investigators with respect to research data; suggests procedures for resolving disputes about data ownership, retention, or access; covers the case of investigators leaving the University; establishes default retention period for research data.

Defines classes of research (fundamental, restricted, confidential, and classified); establishes circumstances and process for WSU faculty participation in projects with funder/sponsor restrictions on research data dissemination.

U.S. Export Control Laws and Regulations prohibit disclosure of certain research results (including data) to designated persons or entities. The results of “fundamental research” (defined as basic and applied research in science and engineering where the resulting information is ordinarily published and shared broadly within the scientific community) are generally exempt from export control restrictions; however this exemption may be destroyed if the agreement with the sponsor contains certain clauses, including terms which restrict dissemination of results. Conditions that destroy the fundamental research exclusion are set forth in the Definitions section of the Export Controls Compliance Program and Manual and in the University’s Policy on Requesting a Waiver for Restricted and Proprietary Research.

(Section 10: HIPAA Requirements in Research) Federal law and university policy impose restrictions on the collection, use and distribution of data which includes Protected Health Information (PHI) obtained from a participant’s medical records in the course of a research protocol.