Scottish Longitudinal Study
Development & Support Unit

Step-by-step guide to accessing SLS data

FAO new researchers and enquiries – scroll down for the step-by-step guide to accessing SLS data.

FAO EXISTING RESEARCHERS:

Policy in the event of SLS Safe Setting emergency closure: as we are a small team based in New Register House, we may need to close the Safe Setting at short notice due to adverse weather conditions, staff sickness or another emergent situation.  We will aim to contact everyone booked into the safe setting before 8.30am on the day of closure. 

Step-By-Step Guide to Accessing the SLS Data – for enquiries and new researchers

In this section we explain how to access the data step by step. The same process is required for all projects, regardless of whether the data will be accessed remotely or in the safe-setting. Some pilot work to test whether a particular research question is feasible may be possible and this can be discussed – please contact us to discuss.

1. Formulate your research question

You should explore this website, and particularly the data dictionary, (see what data are included) to see whether the SLS is appropriate for your research question, and you may find it helpful to contact us to discuss your ideas. It might also be useful to investigate existing SLS projects and outputs.

2. Contact the SLS helpdesk

If you decide you are interested in using the SLS please contact our helpdesk, (we will respond within a 5 day timescale) or for using all 3 LS studies get in touch with CALLS Hub. After discussing the initial feasibility of your project idea with the NRS SLS Project Manager, you will be allocated a Support Officer who will work with you to further develop your ideas. Your project will be allocated a project number at this point.

3. Attend a training session

We strongly encourage all users to attend one of our ‘Introduction to the SLS’ training sessions, which are held twice a year. Depending on timing, it may be inconvenient for some users to wait for a training session prior to starting their project, and so it is not obligatory to attend one of these sessions. For information on the next training session to be held visit our Events section.

4. Complete an application form

Once you have discussed your project in detail with your Support Officer, you must download and complete an SLS-Application-Form-v8.5-April-2025(Word 82KB). In this form you will be asked to provide information about your proposed research including a list of the variables you require. Please log into the online SLS Data Dictionary to easily download this list along with the restriction level.  If you wish to link your own data to the SLS this must also be detailed.

For more information  and support on how to complete an application form, please read through the SLS-Application-Guidance-v1-March-2025.

At this stage, you should also think about who from your team will be able to view the data extract or your stage 1 pre-publication outputs, as everyone accessing the data or viewing stage 1 pre-publication outputs, must have up to date Information Governance Training (Safe Researcher Training).  More info on how to obtain suitable Safe Researcher Training is detailed in Step 6 below.

5. Complete an SLS undertaking form

An SLS-Undertaking-Form-v5.8-May-2025 (Word 89KB) must be signed by you and any collaborators with whom you are working (and who may wish to view pre-publication (intermediate) outputs. The form covers disclosure, confidentiality and ethical issues relating to your project to ensure you are aware of your responsibilities when using SLS data.  If you are applying to use synthetic data in your research project a SLS-Undertaking-Form-Synthetic-Data-v3.3-May-2025 (Word 92KB) will need to be signed by you and your collaborators. At this point you should also familiarise yourself with the SLS-DSU SDC Protocol V2.0 (Mar 2021) (Word107KB) and the SLS-SDC-Guidance-v3.5-Apr2023  (PDF 2 MB).

You will be required to list all existing team members and indicate if they will work directly with the SLS data in the SLS Safe Setting.  You will need to include their dates of information governance training if they will access the SLS data at the Safe Setting or if they will view SLS Stage (1) Pre-publication Output (Intermediate outputs). IG training is not required for those on the project who will not see any Stage (1) Pre-publication Output or review/edit publication drafts (ie they will only view Stage (2) Publication Output (Final outputs)).

No access will be permitted to SLS data or outputs for anyone who has not signed the Undertaking Form. 

6. Attain SLS Approved Researcher Status and accreditated Safe Researcher Training

All new researchers are required to attain Approved Researcher status by completing the SLS Approved Researcher Application (Word 205KB).  For researchers undertaking postgraduate studies a Student Accreditation Form (Word 893KB) must be completed by your supervisor.  In addition, a Census Confidentiality Undertaking form needs to be signed, given the SLS includes Census data.  This can be obtained from the NRS SLS Project Manager.

As part of becoming an SLS Approved Researcher, applicants are required to complete suitable Information Governance training –  The SLS accept ONS Safe Researcher Training (ONS SRT) run in England by the ONS or in Edinburgh by the SCADR team (links below).  Anyone working directly with the SLS data or any project members who wish to view pre-publication (stage 1 intermediate) outputs at any point, must have up-to-date ONS/SCADR SRT and be listed on the SLS Undertaking Form. 

The SLS require SRT to be refreshed every 3 years from the test date, regardless of whether the SRT certificate states a longer period of validity. Initial and refresher training should be undertaken by attending an in-person or tutor led online training course.

As of 17th April 2024, we no longer accept the MRC Research Data Confidentiality Certificate.  All initial and refresher training must be via ONS or SCADR at the links below.

Please note that the ONS Approved Researcher status is separate from the SLS Approved Researcher status – see ONS Approved Researcher Scheme

7. Applying for NHS Data

If you wish to use health data from NHS health data you must also complete an application form for submission to the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (PBPP) through your Support Officer and an eDRIS Research Coordinator. For your convenience, we have prepared a TEMPLATE-HSC-PBPP-Part-Filled-Application-form-v4.3_updated 7 March 2025 (Word 154KB) which corresponds to PBPP Application Form v4.0 on the PBPP website.  More information on completing the PBPP application form can be found in the HSC-PBPP-Guidance-for-Applicants-v4.0  (Word 101KB) or on the PBPP website.

You are required to seek ethical approval from your own organisation.

For information on getting started with health data and what is available for research use please look at the online Health and Social Care Data Dictionary and this NHS Catalogues Pack (PDF 10MB)

8. Gain approval from the SLS Research Board

Once the final version of the application form has been returned to your Support Officer, it will then be reviewed by the NRS SLS Project Manager who may have final questions ahead of submitting to the SLS Research Board (this process can take up to 2 weeks). The SLS Research Board will assess whether your project should be supported and may provide some advice on how it could be improved. The Research Board includes representatives from the SLS team and all the other major data suppliers (see SLS Governance ).

Approval from the board usually takes around 6-8 weeks.  Only once approval is granted by both the SLS Research Board and all appropriate approvals are in place can you proceed. No access will be permitted to SLS data or outputs for anyone who has not signed the Undertaking Form. 

9. Dataset creation

Once the project has been approved by the SLS Research Board and a completed Undertaking Form returned, the SLS Support Officer will ask the Database Manager to create your own user-specific subset of the SLS. The creation of this dataset may involve some dialogue between the researcher and Support Officer in order to meet your requirements. If you have data of your own to link into the dataset this should be provided to your Support Officer. Your Support Officer will inform you when your dataset is ready for you to use. Typically, after a request for extraction this process takes 2-4 weeks.  Please note that all SLS data extracts are initially provided with labels in either Stata or SPSS. We do have Stat Transfer available to switch formats to R or SAS if it would be problematic to read in Stata/SPSS extracts.

10. Analysis

As described in Methods for accessing SLS data currently the analysis may involve visiting the NRS Safe Setting room and working alongside SLS-DSU staff, being provided with a synthetic version of your main (wide version) dataset to work on remotely (for more info please synthetic data) or towards the end of a project remote submitting syntax files (command files) to run models. Our computers have standard statistical software such as SPSS and Stata, along with Word, Excel and notepad.

If you require any specialist software please discuss this with SLS-DSU staff and it may be possible to have it installed in the Safe Setting; for example we also offer R but this is not officially supported by SLS-DSU staff. As we work on a non-internet secure network, R packages are to be requested (via a SLS-Software-Request-Form-V1.3-Nov-2025 (Word 62KB) ) for installation prior to working with SLS extracts.  See our currently installed R packages (Excel 25KB).

We no longer support, SAS, however it may be possible to bring your own licence to work within the Safe Setting.  Please discuss with SLS-DSU staff.

11. Data clearance & disclosure checks

After running your analyses you must prepare your output files to be cleared by the SLS team before they can be released to you. Researchers are asked to familiarise themselves with the SLS-DSU SDC Protocol V2.0 (Mar 2021) (Word 107KB) and SLS-SDC-Guidance-v3.5-Apr2023 (PDF 2MB).  Please allow time at safe-setting visits to review and prepare your own output to make the stage (1) Pre-publication output request.  By focusing on requesting only important outputs and scanning these for potentially disclosive results, the process is facilitated and you will receive your cleared outputs more rapidly.   Clearing any stage (1) Pre-publication Output may take up to 10 working days during busy periods, especially for more complex and/or lengthy output. When asking for Pre-publication Outputs to be cleared please complete the SLS Pre-publication Outputs Clearance form, ensure that the outputs comply with all items on the Pre-publication Outputs checklist and save them in a numbered subfolder within the Reports/To_Be_Cleared folder.

Following clearance, output files are encrypted and emailed to the researcher. Check with your Support Officer which software will be used for encryption.

SLS Intermediate Outputs Clearance Form v1.1 (July 2021) (Word 60KB)

12. Publishing & presenting results

If you wish to disseminate your SLS results beyond your project team and its named associates you must obtain stage (2) Publication output clearance from the SLS Data Custodian. We have changed our clearance process and all stage (2) outputs must be submitted through the Online Outputs Clearance System.  This system is NOT for stage (1) pre-publication outputs which continue to be checked in the Trusted Research Environment (see step 11 above).

Please refer to the Guide to Using the Online Outputs Clearance System  (opens a Canva link)

Register for your user account https://calls.ac.uk/register/

Subsequent Login is via our CALLS-Hub website (bottom right, ‘Output Login’ button)

Every stage (2) Publication Output must be cleared via the online system (including reuse of charts for talks in PPT or revised versions of journal papers to ensure the SLS is reported correctly and results not misinterpreted). Publication Outputs are all listed online at http://sls.lscs.ac.uk/outputs/

This procedure covers all forms of dissemination including working papers, theses, posters, conference abstracts, presentations, reports and journal articles.

For the time being, the minimum period to clear stage (2) Publication Outputs is 20 working days as outputs are reviewed by SLS-DSU staff before being approved by the NRS Data Custodian.  

The process for clearing Publication Outputs protects the SLS by reducing the risk of disclosure, ensuring that the study and data are properly described and ensuring that the data have been used appropriately. Key criteria are:

  • The results and discussion do not raise confidentiality or disclosure issues.
  • The SLS is described correctly.
  • The legend ‘Source: Scottish Longitudinal Study’ is added to tables and figures wherever appropriate.
  • The support of the LSCS is acknowledged using this disclaimer:

“The help provided by staff of the Longitudinal Studies Centre – Scotland (LSCS) is acknowledged. The LSCS is supported by the ESRC/JISC, the Scottish Funding Council, the Chief Scientist’s Office and the Scottish Government. The authors alone are responsible for the interpretation of the data. Census output is Crown copyright and supplied by National Records of Scotland.  It is re-used under terms of the Open Government Licence

Please ensure that you proof-read your final output before submission, as SLS staff are not responsible for correcting errors in spelling and grammar

13. Notify the SLS team of all outputs

We ask all researchers to notify the SLS Support Team whenever work drawing on your SLS analyses is published. We maintain a database of all published SLS-based research (see Outputs ) which is important in ensuring future funding for the SLS-DSU.  Please notify us by emailing sls@lscs.ac.uk

14. End of Project and Archiving

  •  SLS Project End Date and Data Retention Policy: 

In order to comply with data retention guidelines in line with GDPR, the SLS will archive your SLS project data for a period of 5 years beyond the end date stated on your SLS Project Application Form.  This timeframe is to enable any comments from reviewers of peer reviewed papers to be addressed, should changes to analysis be required by the research team.  At the end of the archive retention period the project files and data extract are securely and confidentially destroyed. 

  • Prior to the project end date: 

If you wish to extend your project end date, you must complete a Project Extension Form whilst your project is live i.e. before the end date stated on your SLS Application Form.  The 5 year archive end date will be calculated from your new project end date.   

A Project Extension form is only applicable if the research question and type of variables have not altered significantly since your original application.  Please note if you have health data linked to your research cohort sample, you also need to apply via eDRIS for an extension to PBPP which should be arranged directly with your eDRIS Research Coordinator (keeping SLS-DSU staff informed).  Access will not be allowed to your extract until an extension from PBPP is granted.   This should be arranged before your project end date and before your PBPP end date. 

  • Archiving 

During the 5 year archive period, if you require access to your project to address comments from reviewers, you must complete the Project Extension Form but select the ‘Temporary Access’ box and email this to our NRS SLS Project Manager.  You will also need to ensure your team are still able to meet the SLS conditions of access before temporary access is granted. 

  • Communicating the archive end date 

From 6 months prior to the end of the 5 year archive period, we will email the research team on two occasions to alert you of the date when your project data and files will be deleted (i.e. all the contents of your project folder including data extracts, syntax and outputs as well as your project notebook stored in the Safe Setting).   

You are welcome to book into the Safe Setting to view your syntax for clearing to pass back to the research team. However, as this could be a lengthy process, we would kindly ask someone from your research team to please book into the SLS Safe Setting to review the syntax files first for clearance (in case these include counts in the comments etc).   

If you do not reply to these emails, then we will assume your agreement to delete all of your project data, files and project book.   As such, we encourage you to provide up to date contact information for your research team for the lifetime of your project, as well as the 5 year archive period.   

Once a project closes, we ask that you delete all intermediate, pre-publication outputs including those attached encrypted in emails.  

For further information on the SLS Policy on Data Retention, please see our Privacy Notice

 

  

  

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