Project Details
Projekt
Open Source infrastructure to establish new methods for the acquisition, storage and sharing of information in the field of chemical research: development of a decentralized electronic lab notebook that is connected to a repository for research data
Subject Area
Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
Term
from 2015 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 266379491
Within this project, we want to establish an open access infrastructure that allows new methods for the acquisition of data, its management and storage and as well the provision of information. This shall be reached via the development of two independent but compatible IT-systems namely (1) an electronic lab notebook (ELN) and (2) a chemistry web-repository. With the instruments that will be provided by this project, the integration of modern techniques into the daily lab routine will be possible, thus that the researchers are able to increase the amount, the quality and the accessibility of available data. This project will make important contributions to save research data cost-effectively and to connect chemists (firstly chemistry and in a second step researchers of different research fields) in a modern way. The new model envisages a combination of acquisition and documentation as well as publication und storage. Via an optimized IT infrastructure (here ELN), the loss of data shall be prevented directly at the point of its generation. In detail, it is necessary to integrate analytical instruments in a web-based laboratory- and information management system (LIMS) and to program an electronic planning and management platform for reactions and their results. These IT structures will be developed within this project, summarized in an electronic lab notebook (ELN) and provided for free. As a completion to the functionalities of the ELN, the storage and indexing of research data will be reached via a repository which allows the addition of semantic information as e.g. metadata. The latter instrument is of particular importance for a user friendly deployment of the archived data. By this, one is able to refer to a common and distinct identification in the publishing process.The repository, as a second module of the herein described project is already available in form of a basic software but has to be optimized to allow a general worldwide usage and the application for professional long-term storage. The basic structure has to be completed via the programming of additional functionalities and a safety package that provides confidence within a conservative chemistry user community. The access and the free usage for academic researchers shall provide a basis for collaborative work, it shall allow the providing of research data and the sharing of information among researchers. The connection of ELN and repository, which is important for an easy transfer of electronically stored data in open access databases will ¿for the first time¿ foster the structured storage of available research data without additional work of the single researcher. This project delivers essential, subject-specific infrastructure for chemistry researchers and their collaborators which is needed for the realization of initiatives across the disciplines (e.g. RADAR and many others).
DFG Programme
Research data and software (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
