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The REDCap application is available at no cost to all Íøºì±¬ÁÏ, Baltimore (UMB) and Íøºì±¬ÁÏ, College Park (UMCP), and Íøºì±¬ÁÏ Medical System (UMMS) researchers.

Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for ensuring that their research project protocols allow for data capture and management on the UMB REDCap.

PIs must also ensure that the REDCap project only collects data that has obtained the appropriate IRB approval or determination.

REDCap project team members must be listed on the team list in the IRB-approved protocol, and their REDCap user rights should be limited to their designated responsibilities. If a study team member is removed from the IRB team list, their REDCap user rights for the project must be removed.

For specific IRB-related questions or requirements related to your project, please contact the UMB HRPO.

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure, web-based application specifically designed to support data capture for research studies. Developed by Vanderbilt University, it was further expanded, with tremendous support from the NIH, to provide researchers with an alternative to the cost-prohibitive proprietary database management systems. Non-profit organizations, such as UMB, can join the global REDCap consortium. This allows the non-profit organization to install/administer REDCap to use for work based at the organization. Each partner site is independently responsible for software installation, maintenance, and user support. 

REDCap offers an intuitive interface for data entry with built-in validation, audit trails for tracking data manipulation and export procedures, automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to common statistical packages (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R), and advanced features such as branching logic, calculated fields, and data quality checks. 

Use of UMB REDCap is free of charge to faculty, clinicians, staff, and students at the Íøºì±¬ÁÏ Baltimore (UMB), Íøºì±¬ÁÏ College Park (UMCP, aka UMD), and Íøºì±¬ÁÏ Medical System (UMMS). Access to data in REDCap is restricted to study team members, authenticated with UMB or UMCP credentials. The UMB Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR) REDCap Administrators provide consultation services to assist users in learning more about developing their REDCap database projects and to support them through the lifespan of their projects.  The application and data are hosted in the Azure Microsoft Cloud and supported by the UMB Center for Information Technology Services (CITS). Data are continuously backed up and the Azure Microsoft Cloud allows for data restore and recovery any time within a 35-day window.

As of August 27, 2025, the REDCap Consortium now has over 7,997 active institutional partners in 163 countries. REDCap software has generated over 2,500,000 projects from over 3,894,000 users. 48,268 journal articles cite REDCap.

REDCap is a UMB ICTR-supported resource. The REDCap team provides support and training to help researchers build and manage their REDCap projects. Consultations are offered at any stage of the project life cycle in addition to our weekly, open office hour session, providing ongoing support as a project develops and evolves.

If you are interested in a consult, please submit your request through the UMB ICTR Resource Request form on the Informatics Core Services webpage. In the application, REDCap services can be found under the Informatics section. Please note that only the PI of the project is permitted to submit the ICTR request; however, team members may attend the consultation.

1. Development – Building and testing the project.
2. Production – Entering and protecting real data.
3. Draft Mode – Making changes to a project that is in production.
4. Analysis/Cleanup – Editing or locking data.
5. Complete – Removing the project from the team’s project list.
6. Delete – Permanently removing the project from REDCap.

Vanderbilt University (developer of REDCap) has issued the following guidance to maximize accessibility. Project owners are encouraged to:

• Use clear, descriptive field labels and short, plain language instructions
• Enable high-contrast themes for participant-facing instruments
• Avoid using color alone to indicate required fields or errors
• Add alt text to any inserted images or logos
• Test surveys with a screen reader emulator or keyboard-only navigation
• Adjust survey session timeouts for participants needing extra time
• Use readability checkers (external) for consent and communication materials
  

Other REDCap Community Resources

A new training course was created by University of Washington (UW) focused on accessible participant- and patient-facing REDCap surveys. 

This is free to anyone! You can create a free TREE login to access this course along with many others.

1. Thoroughly test your project and, whenever possible, consult with your statistician and data entry team to verify that your project is functioning as intended.
2. The principal investigator (PI) or project lead (with project setup permissions) can click "Move project to production" at the bottom of the Project Setup page.
3. Choose whether you want to keep or delete any existing data in the project.
4. Complete the brief move to production survey. (Please ensure that you have obtained the necessary IRB approval and have your IRB determination letter readily available to upload if applicable).
5. The REDCap team will receive notice that you want to move your project to production. They will conduct a brief review of your data dictionary, ensuring it aligns with best practices, and review the submitted move to production survey response.
6. If appropriate, they will ask you to make changes to your project to meet the best practices. When you have finished, simply e-mail back.
7. Your project will be moved to production.

 Please allow up to 24 hours for a move to production request to be approved.

New project users will need to have logged into REDCap at least once before they appear in the User Rights/Add New Users search tool. To add a user, type their first or last name in the search tool and select them from the dropdown list. 

External users who need access to the UMB REDCap will need to obtain a UMB or UMCP sponsored/affiliate account. 

For the UMB Community System, please start here: Sponsors and Approvers - Center for Information Technology Services. 

For UMCP, please start here:  

• Data and Report export downloads (file creation allowed if saved to File Repository)
• File Repository downloads
• Record- or instrument-level PDF downloads with data
• Download options under the Other Export Functionality tab
• Activity Log export
• Field Comment Log export
• Data Quality results export
• Survey Distribution participant list export
• Survey Invitation Log export
• Alerts & Notifications log export
• Data Resolution Workflow issues export
• Project XML export with data
• Mobile App data dump and app log export

You can still make changes to a project after it has been placed in production mode. To do so, navigate to the Online Designer and select "Draft Mode." This will allow you to modify your project as needed.

If the changes you are making do not affect your data, your changes will be approved automatically. If the changes could impact your data, the administrator will review them and confirm that you understand the implications before proceeding. Upon confirmation, the changes will be approved.

If you decide against the submitted changes, the administrator can either revert the project back to Draft Mode for corrections or reject all changes, restoring the project to its original state prior to entering Draft Mode.

Please note that if you are adding new variables to your data dictionary, it may be necessary to consult with the IRB to ensure compliance.

Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at Íøºì±¬ÁÏ, Baltimore. REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a secure, web-based application designed to support data capture for research studies, providing 1) an intuitive interface for validated data entry; 2) audit trails for tracking data manipulation and export procedures; 3) automated export procedures for seamless data downloads to common statistical packages, and 4) procedures for importing data from external sources.

1 Paul A. Harris, Robert Taylor, Robert Thielke, Jonathon Payne, Nathaniel Gonzalez, Jose G. Conde, Research electronic data capture (REDCap) - A metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support, J Biomed Inform. 2009 Apr;42(2):377-81.