participantsso

Participantsso is an open-source software platform designed to manage and mobilize participants for research studies, surveys, and events. It provides tools to recruit participants, obtain informed consent, schedule activities, communicate with participants, collect responses, and export de-identified data for analysis.

Core features include a searchable participant database with tagging, consent form workflows with versioning, automated reminders, messaging via email or SMS, survey integration, role-based access control, audit trails, and data export in common formats. The platform aims to support researchers, educators, clinical trial teams, and event organizers by consolidating disparate participant-management tasks into a single system and enabling integrations through APIs and webhooks.

Technical design emphasizes privacy by design and interoperability. Participantsso is typically deployed as a cloud-based, multi-tenant service or self-hosted containerized installation. Data are stored with options for pseudonymization and configurable retention periods, and the system supports GDPR-compliant consent capture, data access requests, and detailed logging.

Development history and governance: The project emerged in the open-source community in the early 2020s from contributors across universities and nonprofit organizations. It is maintained by a core team with community governance practices, an issue tracker, and contribution guidelines. The software is released under an open-source license.

Adoption and reception: Institutions worldwide use participantsso to streamline recruitment and consent workflows. Proponents cite improved efficiency and transparency, while privacy advocates stress the need for robust governance, clear consent documentation, and careful data handling.

See also: research data management, informed consent, participant recruitment.