Contribution types

Last updated: 19/04/2022

Contributions to the creation and management of data objects and studies can come from both individuals and organisations in a variety of ways, and this table lists the contribution types that can be referenced.
In the listing below, types 11 through 31 are all listed as types by DataCite, and the names and descriptions are therefore identical to those in DataCite. The only difference is that type 11, Creator, is a separate data field in DataCite, but in the MDR it is just another contributor type.
Types 32 through to 71 were added by ECRIN to reflect contribution types specific to clinical research. Type 72 is an additional type found in Pubmed citations.
In general, the contributions to a study will also be contributors (indirectly) to the data objects generated from that system. The MDR therefore includes mechanisms to automatically transfer contributor records from a study to the linked associated data objects. The current contributor types are listed below:

id	name	applies to	description	use_in_data_entry	source
11	Creator / Author	individual	The main researchers involved in producing the data, or the authors of the publication, in priority order. To supply multiple creators, repeat this property. May be a corporate/institutional or personal name.	true	DataCite
12	Contact person	individual	Person with knowledge of how to access, troubleshoot, or otherwise field issues related to the resource. May also be “Point of Contact” in organisation that controls access to the resource.	true	DataCite
13	Data collector	individual	Person/institution responsible for finding, gathering/collecting data under the guidelines of the author(s) or Principal Investigator (PI).	true	DataCite
14	Data curator	individual	Person tasked with reviewing, enhancing, cleaning, or standardizing metadata and the associated data submitted for storage, use, and maintenance within a data centre or repository. The Data Curator’s role encompasses quality assurance focused on content and metadata, e.g. checking whether the submitted dataset is complete, with all files and components as described by submitter, whether the metadata is standardized to appropriate systems and schema, whether specialized metadata is needed to add value and ensure access across disciplines, and determining how the metadata might map to search engines, database products, and automated feeds.	true	DataCite
15	Data manager	individual	Person (or organisation with a staff of data managers, such as a data centre) responsible for maintaining the finished resource. The work done by this person or organisation ensures that the resource is periodically “refreshed” in terms of software/hardware support, is kept available or is protected from unauthorized access, is stored in accordance with industry standards, and is handled in accordance with the records management requirements applicable to it.	true	DataCite
16	Distributor	organisation	Institution tasked with responsibility to generate/disseminate copies of the resource in either electronic or print form. Works stored in more than one archive/repository may credit each as a distributor.	false	DataCite
17	Editor	individual	A person who oversees the details related to the publication format of the resource. If the Editor is to be credited in place of multiple creators, the Editor’s name may be supplied as Creator, with “(Ed.)” appended to the name.	false	DataCite
18	Hosting Institution	organisation	Typically, the organisation allowing the resource to be available on the internet through the provision of its hardware/software/operating support. May also be used for an organisation that stores the data offline. Often a data centre (if that data centre is not the “publisher” of the resource).	false	DataCite
19	Producer	both	Typically a person or organisation responsible for the artistry and form of a media product. In the data industry, this may be a company “producing” DVDs that package data for future dissemination by a distributor.	false	DataCite
20	Project leader	individual	Person officially designated as head of project team or subproject team instrumental in the work necessary to development of the resource. The Project Leader is not “removed” from the work that resulted in the resource; he or she remains intimately involved throughout the life of the particular project team.	true	DataCite
21	Project manager	individual	Person officially designated as manager of a project. Project may consist of one or many project teams and sub-teams. The manager of a project normally has more administrative responsibility than actual work involvement.	true	DataCite
22	Project member	individual	Person on the membership list of a designated project/project team. This vocabulary may or may not indicate the quality, quantity, or substance of the person’s involvement.	true	DataCite
23	Registration agency	organisation	Institution/organisation officially appointed by a Registration Authority to handle specific tasks within a defined area of responsibility, e.g. DataCite is a Registration Agency for the International DOI Foundation (IDF).	true	DataCite
24	Registration authority	organisation	A standards-setting body from which Registration Agencies obtain official recognition and guidance, e.g. the IDF serves as the Registration Authority for the International Standards Organisation (ISO) in the area/domain of Digital Object Identifiers.	false	DataCite
25	Related person	individual	A person without a specifically defined role in the development of the resource, but who is someone the author wishes to recognize. This person could be an author’s intellectual mentor, a person providing intellectual leadership in the discipline or subject domain, etc.	false	DataCite
26	Researcher	individual	A person involved in analyzing data or the results of an experiment or formal study. May indicate an intern or assistant to one of the authors who helped with research but who was not so “key” as to be listed as an author. Should be a person, not an institution.	true	DataCite
27	Research group	organisation	Typically refers to a group of individuals with a lab, department, or division; the group has a particular, defined focus of activity. May operate at a narrower level of scope; may or may not hold less administrative responsibility than a project team.	true	DataCite
28	Rights holder	both	Person or institution owning or managing property rights, including intellectual property rights over the resource.	true	DataCite
29	Sponsor	both	Person or organisation that issued a contract or under the auspices of which a work has been written, printed, published, developed, etc. Includes organisations that provide in-kind support, through donation, provision of people or a facility or instrumentation necessary for the development of the resource, etc.	false	DataCite
30	Supervisor	individual	Designated administrator over one or more groups/teams working to produce a resource or over one or more steps of a development process.	false	DataCite
31	Work package leader	individual	A Work Package is a recognized data product, not all of which is included in publication. The package, instead, may include notes, discarded documents, etc. The Work Package Leader is responsible for ensuring the comprehensive contents, versioning, and availability of the Work Package during the development of the resource.	true	DataCite
51	Study lead	individual	The individual who, if not the sponsor themselves, leads and co-ordinates the scientific and clinical activity within a clinical study, including co-ordinating the work of principal investigators at clinical sites. May be known as the Co-ordinating Investigator, the Study Chair, Study Director or similar terms.	true	ECRIN
52	CT site principal investigator	individual	The individual responsible for the safe conduct of a clinical trial at a particular clinical site.	true	ECRIN
53	Clinical study manager	individual	An individual responsible for the operational management of a clinical study. Similar to a Project Manager but a study manager is heavily involved in the management of data and data collection.	true	ECRIN
54	Trial sponsor	organisation	The organisation or individual that has the formal, legal role of a clinical trial sponsor, and is legally responsible for all aspects of a clinical trial.	true	ECRIN
55	Sponsor contact	individual	An individual representing the sponsor and acting as an initial contact point.	true	ECRIN
56	Public contact	individual	An individual designated as dealing with non-scientific queries from the public or press.	true	ECRIN
57	Recruitment contact	individual	An individual designated as providing periodic updates on recruitment information or status, at all sites, usually for monitoring purposes.	false	ECRIN
58	Study funder	organisation	An organisation providing some or all of the additional funds required for the study.	true	ECRIN
59	Funder contact	individual	An individual representing the funder and acting as an initial contact point.	false	ECRIN
60	Independent monitoring committee member	individual	A member of a safety monitoring committee for a clinical trial, independent of the researchers and research activity.	true	ECRIN
61	Medicinal product supplier	organisation	Organisation that provides one or more of the medicines investigated in a clinical study.	true	ECRIN
62	Medical device supplier	organisation	Organisation that provides one or more of the medical devices in a clinical study.	true	ECRIN
63	Logistics support organisation	organisation	Organisation that provides logistical input, e.g. provides a drug distribution service.	true	ECRIN
64	Scientific support organisation	organisation	Organisation that provides scientific support, e.g. a national or international research network.	true	ECRIN
65	Central laboratory	organisation	Organisation that provides a central specialist laboratory testing facility.	true	ECRIN
66	Central imaging facility	organisation	Organisation that provides a central specialist imaging or scanning facility.	true	ECRIN
67	Clinical organisation	organisation	Organisation, usually a primary or secondary health care organisation, that manages one or more of the sites where a clinical study takes place.	true	ECRIN
68	Clinical site	organisation	Organisation or location, usually in a primary or secondary health care organisation, that is one of the sites where a clinical study takes place.	false	ECRIN
69	Collaborating organisation	organisation	May be listed as a secondary sponsor, an organisation other than the lead sponsor involved in supporting a study.	true	ECRIN
70	Sponsor-investigator	individual	An individual with the role of sponsor as well as being the co-ordinating investigator for the study.	true	ECRIN
71	Results contact	individual	The individual, occasionally organisation, to be contacted for further information on the study results.	true	ECRIN
72	Research group member	individual	From PubMed, an 'investigator' is an individual (e.g., collaborator or investigator) who is not an author of a paper but is listed as a member of a collective/corporate group that is an author of the paper.	true	PubMed
90	Other	both	Any person or institution making a significant contribution to the development and/or maintenance of the resource, but whose contribution does not “fit” other controlled vocabulary for contributor type.	true	DataCite
0	Not yet known	both	Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation.	false	ECRIN