Improving the description of data repositories in the French registry Cat OPIDoR through adopting RDA Common Descriptive Attributes of Research Data Repositories Recommendation
What was the challenge that you addressed?
We want to propose a complete and current description of the research data repositories indexed in Cat OPIDoR:
- To enable users to learn the repository’s purpose, policies, functionality and all characteristics.
- To help researchers find the repository where they can deposit their data based on attributes that are important to them.
- To enable research support staff to easily identify attributes of data repositories to help users find the best repository for each purpose.
- To display the contribution of the involved organisations to scientific data management and dissemination.
Which RDA Recommendation or Output did you adopt and why?
Cat OPIDoR registry adopted and indexed the descriptive criteria from the RDA Common Descriptive Attributes of Research Data Repositories Recommendation to provide a more detailed description of the data repositories listed in the application and to propose filters for users who use Cat OPIDoR to select a trusted repository for their data.
The adoption process
Cat OPIDoR is a semantic wiki which has an internal model for representing the knowledge described in its pages. We added properties to this model that correspond to the various descriptive criteria proposed in the Recommendation, selecting the criteria that are relevant to our needs (all of them except Language, the language of the repository interface). The most difficult aspect was finding the information for each data repository to fill these new properties in Cat OPIDoR.
Benefits of adoption and impact
Firstly, the adoption of this recommendation enabled the Cat OPIDoR catalogue to be enriched.
This has also enabled us to provide a summary table for each data repository with its specific characteristics. Finally, we can offer users of Cat OPIDoR catalogue filters that allow users to specify their criteria for selecting a data repository from among all those referenced in the catalogue.
Now, we are able to easily identify and index attributes of data repositories to help users find the best repository for their purpose.
What lessons did you learn from the adoption process?
The adoption process led us to reflect on our needs and the criteria relevant to those needs; we acquired a better understanding and representation of data repositories.
The adoption process also allowed for enriching exchanges with colleagues working in the national open science ecosystem, but also with other groups around the reflection on the various criteria. And above all, this gave us an international reference to draw upon.
About the Adopter(s)
Inist – Institut de l’information scientifique et technique (Institute of Scientific and Technical Information) is a research support unit of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Its mission is to provide research units and research support services with tools and services for accessing, disseminating, improving, analysing, mining and enriching scientific data (including all information produced by research, including texts, documents, software and publications).
Inist is organised in three departments: Access to scientific information, Research data development and dissemination, and Scientific information analysis and mining. Its project is part of the institutional and national Open Science policy.
In this context, Inist provides the French scientific community with tools to help manage and FAIRify research data.
Cat OPIDoR is a catalogue designed to map the landscape of French services that contribute to the management, sharing and re-use of scientific data throughout its lifecycle. This map currently lists more than 1,000 French services dedicated to scientific data and their associated structures.
This catalogue allows researchers to identify services to use in their research workflows; for research support staff it is a memo to guide and support researchers; and for the entities represented it is a showcase for their contribution to Open Science. Lastly, the catalogue provides a dynamic landscape of national data-related infrastructures and services for decision-makers and funders.
Hosted, moderated and updated by Inist, Cat OPIDoR, as a collaborative wiki, can also be updated and maintained by its users. It is based on the MediaWiki open-source solution, developed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
Related Group: Data Repository Attributes Working Group
RDA Output Adopted: RDA Common Descriptive Attributes of Research Data Repositories Recommendation
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