Machine Readable Consent Guidance (MRCG)

Incorporating standard data sharing language into consent forms is beneficial for all parties involved. Participants can have a clear understanding of how their genomic and health data will be used, allowing them to make informed decisions about their personal information. Researchers and governing bodies can clearly understand the data use conditions of any dataset, thus streamlining the data access process.

The Data Use Ontology (DUO) supports this goal by providing standard codes that specify the use conditions of a dataset. To explain how to create consent forms that map directly to DUO, the GA4GH Data Use & Researcher Identities (DURI) Work Stream and Regulatory and Ethics Work Stream (REWS) co-created Machine Readable Consent Guidance (MRCG). The document allows institutions to automate and expedite aspects of the data access process.