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v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack DStablev2026.2

Community-controlled research

Research in which the community whose members, knowledge, lands, or resources are the focus exercises decisive authority over research questions, design, conduct, data governance, and dissemination.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A community-controlled research initiative defines its own priorities and engages external researchers to support specific technical work.

  • Is an instance

    Decisions about publication and data sharing are made by the community's research governance body.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    A research project designed by external researchers with community participants only as data subjects is not community-controlled research.

  • Not an instance

    Token consultation without decision-making authority does not satisfy the community-controlled standard.

Editorial commentary

Community-controlled research inverts traditional researcher-led models by locating authority with the community. The community sets priorities, retains rights and interests in data, and determines how findings are used. External researchers may participate as collaborators, technical contributors, or service providers but do not hold unilateral authority. The model is widely cited in Indigenous Data Sovereignty discourse and is supported by frameworks such as OCAP and the CARE Principles.

References

Also known as

community-led research · community-driven research

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Community-controlled research"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/community-controlled-research" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Community-controlled research",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/community-controlled-research",
  "description": "Research in which the community whose members, knowledge, lands, or resources are the focus exercises decisive authority over research questions, design, conduct, data governance, and dissemination.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/indigenous-data-governance-care-principles/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/community-controlled-research",
  "sameAs": [
    "community-led research",
    "community-driven research"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

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