The on-premise data sharing infrastructure e!DAL: Foster FAIR data for faster data acquisition

Abstract

Background: The FAIR data principle as a commitment to support long-term research data management is widely accepted in the scientific community. Although the ELIXIR Core Data Resources and other established infrastructures provide comprehensive and long-term stable services and platforms for FAIR data management, a large quantity of research data is still hidden or at risk of getting lost. Currently, high-throughput plant genomics and phenomics technologies are producing research data in abundance, the storage of which is not covered by established core databases. This concerns the data volume, e.g., time series of images or high-resolution hyper-spectral data; the quality of data formatting and annotation, e.g., with regard to structure and annotation specifications of core databases; uncovered data domains; or organizational constraints prohibiting primary data storage outside institional boundaries.

Results: To share these potentially dark data in a FAIR way and master these challenges the ELIXIR Germany/de.NBI service Plant Genomic and Phenomics Research Data Repository (PGP) implements a "bring the infrastructure to the data" approach, which allows research data to be kept in place and wrapped in a FAIR-aware software infrastructure. This article presents new features of the e!DAL infrastructure software and the PGP repository as a best practice on how to easily set up FAIR-compliant and intuitive research data services. Furthermore, the integration of the ELIXIR Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI) and data discovery services are introduced as means to lower technical barriers and to increase the visibility of research data.

Conclusion: The e!DAL software matured to a powerful and FAIR-compliant infrastructure, while keeping the focus on flexible setup and integration into existing infrastructures and into the daily research process.

Keywords: FAIR principles; digital object identifier; plant genomics and phenomics; research data management.

Figure 1:

Data-publication-as-a-service vs data-publication-on-premises: both services feature FAIR data publication but differ in costs. The as-a-service model (A) costs a fee, involves delegation of data property control, and faces capacity limits in storage and data upload. The on-premises model (B) keeps data in-house but requires the availability of server and storage hardware as well as the installation of the e!DAL software.

Figure 2:

Screenshot of the e!DAL website, which provides a detailed description on how to use the e!DAL infrastructure software, as well as comprehensive examples for users and developers. Furthermore, some video tutorials and presentation recordings are available to lower the initial barriers to digging into the e!DAL infrastructure.

Figure 3:

Access numbers and stock overview of the eDAL-PGP repository since 2016. Left: The development of the data volume and number of stored files, which were provided by the repository. Right:The constantly increasing number of accesses and downloads of published datasets.

Figure 4:

Screenshot of example datasets in the PGP repository. The red rectangle outlines the e!DAL embedded functions for content negotiation.

Figure 5:

Integration of the ELIXIR AAI login dialog into the e!DAL infrastructure. In addition, the ELIXIR AAI provides a large collection of institutional identity providers, which can be easily found via the small search box, as well as several third-party login opportunities based on Google, ORCID, or LinkedIn. This provides the users a flexible authentication infrastructure.

Figure 6:

Example screenshot of the e!DAL embedded report page for the e!DAL-PGP repository showing the new layout and user interface. Several simple filter and search possibilities make it easier to look for specific datasets. An integrated world map gives the user an idea about the dissemination of the data.

Figure 7:

Example screenshot of the web-based submission application for the e!DAL-PGP repository. The form-like user interface is very intuitive and similar to the desktop application. It helps the user to fill in the needed metadata by executing several checks to guarantee completeness.