Expose and discover

Chemotion is an Open Source Electronic Laboratory Notebook for chemical researchers. The Chemotion ELN is equipped with the basic functionalities necessary for the acquisition and processing of chemical data, in particular the work with molecular structures and calculations based on molecular properties. The ELN allows the search for molecules and reactions not only within the user’s data but also in conventional external sources as provided by SciFinder and PubChem. The ELN provides tools to share data in the Chemotion Data Repository. More information available at: Tremouilhac, P., Nguyen, A., Huang, Y. et al. Chemotion ELN: an Open Source electronic lab notebook for chemists in academia. J Cheminform 9, 54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13321-017-0240-0

The Data Curation primers are documents used as a reference to curate research data within a specific discipline area or when using certain software or data types. They are developed during a series of workshops were attendees get input from a mentor of the Data Curator Network. The results are published in GitHub repositories. The GeoDatabase Data Curation Primer provides guidelines to manage and organize geographic data in geodatabases, to describe such data using geospatial metadata standards and which actions can be undertaken to preserve geospatial data in the long term.

This interactive on-line course prepared by the Social Science Research Council and the Qualitative Data Repository contains four modules about different aspects of RDM of qualitative data in Social Sciences. Each module is composed by multiple lessons and can also function as a stand-alone resource to be completed individually. Most lessons include associated readings, resources, exercises, and activities.

The knowledge base’s of the DataWiz is a complete RDM guideline for Psychology research to support or complement the use of the DataWiz data management tool. The content is structured in three sections: before, during and after data collection & analysis. The first section covers data management planning as well as the various legal and ethical aspects related to data management. The second section focuses on best practices and tips for handling and documenting data during research. Finally, the last section focuses on how to share and preserve data at the end of the project.

DataWiz is an automated assistant for data management in Psychology, developed by the Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information. It is a web-based application that supports researchers in planning their data management before the project starts and in managing their research data during the project. It provides functions to cover the entire research data lifecycle: data preparation, documentation and archiving. It also provides a digital collaborative working environment for you and your team. With DataWiz researchers can reduce the time spent on RDM, increase the quality and ensure the long-term reusability of research data.

The Library service of Standford University has compiled a series of case studies with examples of good and bad practices about different RDM topics, such as file organization and naming, data storage, metadata, spreadsheets and publishing data online. The examples explain the consequences of bad practices and provide solutions.

The Australian National Data Service has developed three guides about Persistent Identifiers for three different types of users. The basic guide focus on awareness level and explains the basics about PIDs. The working level guide expands on the basic, going into technical and policy details. The expert level guide is intended to provide in-depth understanding for research administrator and technical staff on how to set up a PID infrastructure.

Utrecht University has created a simple decision-tree tool that helps researchers to choose a generic repository that best fits their needs. To do so, criteria such as restriction of access and cost of the repository are taken into account.

The University of North Caroline has developed a step-wise tutorial about metadata. It addresses what metadata is and why is it needed, explains the basic elements of metadata and how these are represemted in standards, as well as how controlled vocabularies are related to metadata. It finally provides a list of best practices resources for metadata.

The University of Glasgow has designed a LEGO® based game for 4-24 players to teach about metadata and reproducibility. In their own words: "The game addresses issues including planning for metadata, formats of metadata recording, standards and automation. The game also draws multiple parallels between recording and communicating the research process and documenting and the creation of a LEGO® model. The process of playing the game draws researchers into discussions on how metadata is captured, recorded and disseminated, which in turn provides an opportunity for signposting to further resources in this area."