Digital curation of research data: experiences of a baseline study in Germany

The relevance of research data today and for the future is well documented and discussed, in Germany as well as internationally. Ensuring that research data are accessible, sharable, and re-usable over time is increasingly becoming an essential task for researchers and research infrastructure institutions. Some reasons for this development include the following: - research data are documented and could therefore be validated - research data could be the basis for new research questions - research data could be re-analyzed by using innovative digital methods - research data could be used by other disciplines Therefore, it is essential that research data are curated, which means they are kept accessible and interpretable over time. In Germany, a baseline study was undertaken analyzing the situation in eleven research disciplines in 2012. The results were then published in a German-language edition. To address an international audience, the German-language edition of the study has been translated and abridged. The present publication provides a summary of the preconditions, results, and conclusions of the baseline study “Langzeitarchivierung von Forschungsdaten – Eine Bestandsaufnahme”. The editors of this edition hope that this publication will contribute to further discussion and increased awareness of this topic, resulting in expanded measures to improve the framework and the conditions for the digital curation of research data.