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The SGC makes samples of its chemical probes available to the academic and industrial research community under a novel click-wrap MTA called the SGC Open Science Trust Agreement (the “OSTA” or “click-trust”). Instead of treating the chemical probes as proprietary, the use of a trust concept is intended to create a community of recipient “trustees” committed to preserving the chemical probes as open resources.
Specifically, when SGC transfers a chemical probe to a recipient scientist under the OSTA, the recipient holds the material “in trust”, which means the recipient undertakes certain responsibilities to the research community and the public – the beneficiaries of the trust – to use the probe in a manner consistent with open science. These responsibilities include: (1) not to pursue patents that would restrict the ability of others in the research community to use the chemical probe in any way (Section 1), and (2) to ensure that others with whom the recipient wishes to share the material are likewise committed to treating the material as an open resource by having agreed to the OSTA (Section 6). Though not an obligation, recipients are also encouraged to openly publish results and data arising from their research with the chemical probes under FAIR principles (Section 2).
Please note that recipients are not obligated to treat derivative compounds or other unrelated outputs they conceive or develop in research using SGC’s chemical probes as open resources (Section 7). These follow-on research outputs do not fall within the scope of the click-trust and researchers are free to pursue intellectual property on and/or disseminate them as they see fit.
In addition to the above open science-related obligations, the click-trust also contains a number of provisions found in standard MTAs. Specifically, recipients agree (1) to acknowledge the SGC in publications, both to highlight the source of the chemical probes for other potential users and to help demonstrate the value of our probes program to existing and potential funders (Section 3), (2) to use the probes according to applicable rules and ethical standards (Sections 4 and 5), and (3) not to use the probes in human studies (Section 5). Finally, recipients are required to accept all risks associated with their receipt, storage, use, and disposal of the probes (Section 8).
The above is solely a summary of (and not a substitute for) the Open Science Trust Agreement, the full terms of which are found here. Please review it carefully. Some responses to frequently asked questions about the OSTA can be found here.
By clicking “I Accept”, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Open Science Trust Agreement and hereby agree to and accept its terms and conditions.