The role of research data repositories for large integrative research infrastructures

The ongoing digitalisation together with new methods for inter- and transdisciplinary research (e.g., AI, ML) triggered the development of large research infrastructures across the Earth and environmental sciences (e.g. EPOS, EnvriFAIR or the German NFDI), and to increasing demands for seamless data integration and visualisation that requires interoperability of data formats and the used of agreed metadata standards. Especially for data intensive disciplines in geophysics and geodesy, metadata standards are important and already in place and widely adopted (e.g. RineX/SineX formats for GNSS data and GeodesyML metadata for GNSS stations; mSEED format and FDSN metadata recommendations for seismological data). In addition, it becomes increasingly relevant to connect research outputs (papers, data, software, samples) with each other and with the originating researchers and institutions – in unique and machine-readable way. The use of persistent identifier (like DOI, ORCID, ROR, IGSN) and descriptive linked data vocabularies/ontologies in the metadata associated with research outcomes are strongly supporting these tasks.

In this presentation, we will elaborate the role and potential of domain-specific research data repositories for the process described above. Domain repositories are digital archives that manage and preserve curated research data (and/or software, sample descriptions) from specific scientific disciplines. The metadata associated with the DOI-referenced objects is specific for their domain and richer than generic metadata supposed to describe data across many scientific disciplines. They often offer data curation by domain researchers and data specialists and make sure that relevant persistent identifiers are included in the standardised XML or JSON metadata for data discovery that is complementing the disciplinary metadata described above.

Our example is GFZ Data Services, the domain repository for geosciences data, hosted at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. GFZ Data Services has several partnerships with large research international infrastructures, like EPOS, GEOROC, the World Heat Flow Database Project, and provides data publication services to several geodetic data services of the International Association for Geodesy (ICGEM, IGETS, ISG). Our examples clearly delineate the and the roles of each partner and the benefit of the partnership for the overarching task Open Science.