Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A postdoc leaving a project completes a checklist: data deposited in the repository, code committed, sample inventory transferred to the lab manager, system access revoked.
- Is an instance
A consortium partner withdrawing mid-project completes formal offboarding, including amendment to the GA and CA.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A short absence (sabbatical, parental leave) is not offboarding.
- Not an instance
A team member changing roles within the same project is not offboarding.
Editorial commentary
Project offboarding is critical to continuity. It includes documenting ongoing work, sharing lab notebooks and electronic records, transferring custody of physical samples and equipment, returning institutional or sponsor property, revoking access (project email lists, shared drives, code repositories, secure systems), recording any unpublished but in-progress work, and conducting an exit interview to capture lessons learned. Poor offboarding is a leading cause of orphaned data, lost passwords, and compliance gaps.
References
- Institutional HR offboarding policies; UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity.
Also known as
Project exit · Personnel offboarding · Project departure
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Offboarding (project)"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/offboarding-project" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/offboarding-project",
"name": "Offboarding (project)",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/offboarding-project",
"description": "The structured process of transitioning a team member out of a project, including knowledge transfer, data and code hand-off, access revocation, exit interview, and documentation of outstanding items.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-lifecycle#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/offboarding-project",
"sameAs": [
"Project exit",
"Personnel offboarding",
"Project departure"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:23:00",
"inLanguage": "en"
}
