Storage capacity and management of sample material in the geosciences

Related guidelines:

As a rule, researchers make all results available as part of scientific/academic discourse. In specific cases, however, there may be reasons not to make results publicly available (in the narrower sense of publication, but also in a broader sense through other communication channels); this decision must not depend on third parties. Researchers decide autonomously – with due regard for the conventions of the relevant subject area – whether, how and where to disseminate their results. If it has been decided to make results available in the public domain, researchers describe them clearly and in full. Where possible and reasonable, this includes making the research data, materials and information on which the results are based, as well as the methods and software used, available and fully explaining the work processes. Software programmed by researchers them- selves is made publicly available along with the source code. Researchers provide full and correct information about their own preliminary work and that of others.

In the interest of transparency and to enable research to be referred to and reused by others, whenever possible researchers make the research data and principal materials on which a publication is based available in recognised archives and repositories in accordance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Restrictions may apply to public availability in the case of patent applications. If self-developed research software is to be made available to third parties, an appropriate licence is provided.

In line with the principle of “quality over quantity”, researchers avoid split- ting research into inappropriately small publications. They limit the repetition of content from publications of which they were (co-)authors to that which is necessary to enable the reader to understand the context. They cite results previously made publicly available unless, in exceptional cases, this is deemed unnecessary by the general conventions of the discipline.

Researchers back up research data and results made publicly available, as well as the central materials on which they are based and the research software used, by adequate means according to the standards of the relevant subject area, and retain them for an appropriate period of time. Where justifiable reasons exist for not archiving particular data, researchers explain these reasons. HEIs and non-HEI research institutions ensure that the infrastructure necessary to enable archiving is in place.

When scientific and academic findings are made publicly available, the research data (generally raw data) on which they are based are generally archived in an accessible and identifiable manner for a period of ten years at the institution where the data were produced or in cross-location repositories. This practice may differ depending on the subject area. In justified cases, shorter archiving periods may be appropriate; the reasons for this are described clearly and comprehensibly. The archiving period begins on the date when the results are made publicly available.

Examples of best practice in the provision of storage capacity, curation and management of sample material include the international core repository at MARUM – Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen(externer Link) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)(externer Link) in Berlin-Spandau. Material is archived here that was obtained under the international geoscientific drilling programmes ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program) and IOPD (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program). The sample material is curated based on international agreements and made accessible to research.

Another example is the Geoscientific Collections at TU Freiberg(externer Link): here a joint sample archive (Gesteinsanayltikzentrum – GSA) is planned in cooperation with the Regional Department of Geology.

Storage capacity and management of sample material in the geosciences

Providing public access to research results

Archiving

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Storage capacity and management of sample material in the geosciences

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