No-Cost (or Unfunded) Research Collaboration Agreements

“No-cost” means that no funds are exchanged between the parties; however, institutional resources (such as personnel time, facilities, background intellectual property, materials, or tools) may be committed by each party. The following guidance is focused on no-cost collaborations that may require a written agreement, not joint publication or scholarly collaboration on its own. In some cases, a material transfer agreement (MTA), data use agreement (DUA), or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be sufficient. If, however, the parties are entering into a shared research arrangement that has defined responsibilities and institutional commitments, generally those collaborations should be documented in a written agreement.

If a PI needs a written agreement to support a shared research arrangement, as described above, please contact your RAS contract administrator (CA) and OSATT at osatt@mit.edu.

Agreement Type by Context

The table below summarizes common scenarios and the appropriate agreement type. Please contact RAS or OSATT for guidance specific to your engagement.

When to Submit a Proposal in Kuali Coeus (KC) for a No-Cost Collaboration

A no-cost collaboration proposal should be submitted in KC (see requirements) when both parties are actively engaged in the same research project with designated responsibilities, institutional commitments, shared results, and anticipated co-publication.

• Actively engaged is intended to describe an engagement where an investigator from each party is making an intellectual contribution to the same defined research project.
• The same research project generally means a shared research question or plan. The work may occur at one or both sites and may proceed in stages, but both parties are contributing intellectually and exchanging research data toward a common research objective.
• Sharing results and anticipated co-publication may be generated when both parties contribute intellectually to the research project, consistent with academic authorship standards, though this alone is not a determining factor.

When a Proposal in KC May Not Be Required

A no-cost collaboration proposal may not be required in the following circumstances (although an MTA, DUA, or NDA may still be necessary):

• Joint publication or scholarly collaboration on its own
• Receiving data or materials for a research project where the providing party is not actively contributing to the research plan.
• Sending MIT data or materials to a colleague at another institution for peer review, validation, or confirmatory work.
• Situations where there is no designated counterpart investigator performing part of the research plan.
• Confidential discussions to determine whether to pursue a sponsored research engagement.
• When acknowledgment in a publication is more likely than co-authorship, consistent with academic standards.

If you are unsure whether a no-cost collaboration agreement is appropriate, please contact OSATT (osatt@mit.edu) for guidance.

Proposal Requirements

No-cost collaboration agreements are negotiated by OSATT and require that a formal no-cost proposal be routed in KC from the PI’s DLCI to RAS.

These KC proposals must include:

• Statement of work (SOW): A description of the research to be conducted by all participating parties, including the responsibilities of each party, the resources each will contribute (e.g., background IP, tools, materials, personnel effort), and the anticipated research outcomes.
• Internal budget: An attachment in KC (not entered in the KC budget module) estimating MIT’s costs for participating in the collaboration.
• Source of funds: The internal budget must identify the source(s) of funds supporting MIT’s effort. In most cases, these will be internal funds (e.g., discretionary accounts).

If sponsored funds are anticipated to be used to support MIT’s participation in the no-cost collaboration, please contact RAS to evaluate whether the proposed use of sponsor funds is permissible and whether sponsor approval is required. If so, RAS/OSATT will provide guidance on communication with the sponsor.