Background

REDCap software and consortium support are available at no charge to non-profit organizations that join the REDCap consortium. Joining requires submission of a standard, online license agreement.

Although REDCap is available at no charge, it is not open-source software. To join the consortium (and subsequently obtain the REDCap source code), a valid end-user license agreement between Vanderbilt University and your organization must be executed. To learn more, please review the FAQ section ‘Is REDCap open source?’.

Your organization may require acknowledgment, approval, direct consent, or direct involvement from your Director of Technology Transfer, General Counsel, IT department, or other leadership before submitting the license. Please coordinate with these stakeholders to determine the appropriate signature necessary to execute the REDCap end-user license agreement on behalf of your organization.

Please carefully review all information on this page before beginning the electronic end-user license agreement located in the final section below.

Technical & Non-Technical Support Requirements

The IT infrastructure requirements and dependencies (e.g. PHP web server, MySQL database server, etc.) are detailed on Installation and Technical Requirements. REDCap is not difficult to support; one support person can manage hundreds of projects, given appropriate technical resources and user expectations.

All IT support must come from within your organization’s own internal IT department. Contracting (even with unpaid volunteers) is NOT permitted, per the license terms. The technical staff MUST be affiliated with your organization (i.e. employees), not third-party software vendors or service providers. We also recommend an internal administrative person (or team) provide day-to-day, non-technical assistance to your REDCap end-users. Please review the FAQ section ‘How much ongoing technical support does a REDCap system require?’ for more information about ongoing support requirements.

Consortium Assistance & Participation

The REDCap consortium maintains an internal knowledge base and communication platform called Community. This online portal is accessible only to a limited number of registered IT staff and REDCap administrators at each current consortium partner site. The software, consortium support, and extensive internal documentation are all provided via Community.

The consortium is active beyond Community. Regular webinars are held for system administrators to find troubleshooting assistance, as well as to discuss new software development, feature prioritization, outstanding support issues, provide educational opportunities, etc. Some of these webinars are scheduled specifically for certain regions across the globe, to allow all consortium partner sites the opportunity to participate at convenient times.

Webinar attendance and Community participation are optional. To learn more, please review the FAQ section ‘What does ‘joining the consortium’ actually mean? Are there requirements for participation?’.

Through Community and the regular webinars (as well as the annual REDCapCon in-person event), REDCap administrators across the world have contributed ideas for new modules, documentation, business models for supporting institutional projects, testing resources, and technical support for new consortium sites. The consortium truly is the key to REDCap’s success. We would be delighted to have your organization join us.

License Submission Steps

1. Prior to submission, carefully review the terms and conditions of the REDCap End-User License Agreement.
2. Complete the License Eligibility Survey. The real license link will be displayed automatically after you submit this survey if you are eligible. Follow that link to submit the real license. (And if instead you are found not eligible to submit the real license, other instructions or alternatives to use REDCap will be explained.)

Please direct all questions to the Vanderbilt REDCap Team at redcap@vumc.org.

(NOTE: If you are interested in using a hosted REDCap solution for industry-sponsored trials requiring 21 CFR Part 11 validation, please visit REDCap Cloud for more information. They are separate from REDCap licensing and the consortium.)