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Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Co-investigator

A named investigator on a research grant, contract, or protocol other than the lead PI, who contributes substantive scientific expertise and shares responsibility for portions of the work, typically with a defined role in the proposal and a named budget allocation.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A statistician named as co-I on a clinical trial, responsible for the analytic workstream with a named budget line

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    A collaborator who provided a unique reagent but is not on the grant is not a co-investigator

Editorial commentary

Co-investigator status carries scientific responsibility but not the lead-PI’s ultimate accountability for the whole project. The role is distinct from collaborator (who provides resources or input but has no formal responsibility) and from consultant (who advises against a fee).

References

  • NIH Multiple Principal Investigator Policy
  • UKRI Co-Investigator Eligibility

Also known as

Co-PI · Co-I

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Co-investigator"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/co-investigator" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/co-investigator",
  "name": "Co-investigator",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/co-investigator",
  "description": "A named investigator on a research grant, contract, or protocol other than the lead PI, who contributes substantive scientific expertise and shares responsibility for portions of the work, typically with a defined role in the proposal and a named budget allocation.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/mentorship-career-stages#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/co-investigator",
  "sameAs": [
    "Co-PI",
    "Co-I"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:01:55",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

University of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoCrossref logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logoORCID logoUniversity of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoCrossref logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logoORCID logo
  • University of Cambridge logo
  • Columbia University logo
  • Crossref logo
  • University of Edinburgh logo
  • Harvard University logo
  • University of Oxford logo
  • Princeton University logo
  • Stanford School of Medicine logo
  • University College London logo
  • ORCID logo

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