Use and misuse of material transfer agreements: Lessons in proportionality from research, repositories, and litigation

Authors

Tania M. Bubela, University of Alberta, CanadaFollow
Jenilee Guebert, University of Alberta, Canada
Amrita Mishra, University of Alberta, Canada

Document Type

Article

Department

Office of the Provost

Abstract

Material transfer agreements exist to facilitate the exchange of materials and associated data between researchers as well as to protect the interests of the researchers and their institutions. But this dual mandate can be a source of frustration for researchers, creating administrative burdens and slowing down collaborations. We argue here that in most cases in pre-competitive research, a simple agreement would suffice; the more complex agreements and mechanisms for their negotiation should be reserved for cases where the risks posed to the institution and the potential commercial value of the research reagents is high.

Comments

Pagination is not provided by the author/publisher. This work was published before Tania joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

PLOS Biology

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.1002060

Recommended Citation

Bubela, T. M., Guebert, J., Mishra, A. (2015). Use and misuse of material transfer agreements: Lessons in proportionality from research, repositories, and litigation. PLOS Biology, 13(2), e1002060.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/provost_office/769

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.