Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: While the scientific community has improved the findability and interoperability of research data, access to sensitive datasets remains a major bottleneck. Accessing data from human subjects often depends on interconnected, manual, and non-standardised administrative workflows that are incompatible with large-scale data federation. The Resource Entitlement Management System (REMS) defines data access request, review, and authorisation processes through configurable workflows; standardising complex procedures while ensuring auditability. REMS and its application workflow engine translate ethical, legal, and cultural requirements into machine-readable permissions. The system separates identity from access rights and coordinates accountability among data applicants, authorisation bodies, and data holders. REMS uses international standards to automate generation of application forms. It reduces administrative overhead and supports local and national data sovereignty. REMS does not harmonise national law, assess scientific merit or disclosure risk, or enforce secure processing environments. However, the use cases across diverse regulatory and federated settings in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand demonstrate versatility of the software to deploy trustworthy access control on sensitive data.
Source: Research Square
Authors: Meeri Hakala, Jaakko Leinonen, Miska Husgafvel, Miikka Kallberg, Jarno Laitinen, Ilkka Lappalainen, Janne Lauros, Heikki Lehväslaiho, Mikael Linden, Martin Matthiesen, Dylan Spalding, Juha Törnroos, Tommi Jalkanen, Markku Rontu, Minttu Sauramo, Tiina Wahlfors, Melissa Konopko, Martin Kuba, Bruno Pacheco, Oliver Hofmann, Conrad Leonard, Andrew Patterson, Bernard Pope, Tracey Godfery, Matt Pestle, Claire E. Rye, Tommi H. Nyrönen
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: green
Funder: China Scholarship Council
OpenAlex ID: W7223101054