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Borealis Statement on Sensitive and Confidential Data

Please read the following statement carefully to understand the Borealis terms for deposit and sharing of sensitive and confidential data. Your institution will be able to assist you with depositing and determining if the repository is a suitable fit for your research data. For more information, contact your institution’s repository administrator.

Borealis Terms of Use
Section: Sensitive & Confidential Data

By using the Service, you confirm that all your Content does not contain information that could directly or indirectly identify a subject, except where the release of such identifying information has no potential for constituting an unwarranted invasion of privacy and/or breach of confidentiality. In this case, you further confirm that all personally-identifiable information in your Content has at least one of the following conditions:

  • The information has been previously released to the public. The information describes public figures, where it relates to their public roles and other non-sensitive subjects.
  • A sufficient length of time has passed since the collection of the information so that it can be considered historic.
  • All identified subjects have given explicit informed consent allowing the public release of their information.
  • All information was collected with an explicit statement concerning its public nature, such as information collected for governmental regulatory purposes.
  • For federal records (i.e., Content created by a Canadian federal government agency or under a federal contract) only, all identified subjects are deceased and no federal statute explicitly restricts the release of that information.

For human participant data:

In accordance with Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans - TCPS2 (2022), you must ensure research data are approved for deposit and sharing by an institutional Research Ethics Board (REB). Not all data involving human participants is sensitive or confidential. Please review your institution’s local policies and standards and comply with provincial privacy regulations, technical and security specifications, or other requirements where applicable that must be followed.

Borealis does not accept deposits that could directly or indirectly identify a person or people, except where the release of such identifying information has no potential for constituting an unwarranted invasion of privacy and/or breach of confidentiality. In most cases, free, prior, and informed consent must be obtained from research participants, and data must be de-identified or anonymized before deposit and sharing in Borealis.

If your data meets the following conditions, you may be able to deposit your data in Borealis:

  • You and/or your research group has received approval for deposit in a public repository or a repository with restricted access features such as Borealis by your institution’s Research Ethics Board (REB).

AND, in accordance with Borealis Terms of Use (see above):

  • The release of such identifying information has no potential risk for constituting an unwarranted invasion of privacy and/or breach of confidentiality.

OR

  • Where applicable, steps have been taken to de-identify or anonymize the data (in accordance with local policies and provincial and/or legal requirements).

Always review your institution’s recommendations for de-identifying or anonymizing data before deposit, and if applicable, apply appropriate restrictions to your files. Consider any risk associated with re-identification and future reuse of data.

For non-human participant data:

Some data from or about non-human participants can be considered sensitive or confidential (for example: locations of species at risk data, data that poses a risk to national security, etc.). If you have questions, you can reach out to relevant units in your institution for guidance and/or contact your local Borealis repository administrator.

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Published September 23, 2025.