NFDI4Chem: the federated repositories

Within the framework of the German NFDI initiative and in particular the NFDI4Chem consortium, Task 3 (Repositories) aims to establish a federation of repositories for the collection, storage, processing, analysis, publication and re-use of research data as part of its infrastructure. The federation will be realised through the implementation of metadata and application programming interface (API) standards as well as vocabularies and ontologies addressed within the consortium. In order to identify those repositories that could form the nucleus of the envisaged virtual federation, the TA3 team developed a list of selection criteria. A number of relevant repositories were identified. Although some of them do not yet meet all the criteria required for integration into the NFDI4Chem service platform, they already play an important role in the chemistry research community and have committed to work towards the standards set by the consortium. Task Area 3 will support other databases and data repositories on interoperability issues and encourage them to participate in the development of NFDI4Chem standards and interfaces. With the aim of both identifying gaps in coverage in terms of data types or disciplines and addressing these through adaptation or, where necessary, new development, the TA3 team carried out a gap analysis of existing relevant repositories through individual interviews with repository leaders. The interview consisted of a series of questions ranging from general information to metadata standards and ontology, data content, technical information about the Authorisation and Authentication Infrastructure (AAI), API, services and functionality, operating environment, software architecture and workflows. The interviews were used to determine the current maturity and operational readiness of the selected repositories and to derive appropriate recommendations to address missing requirements. Future activities will focus on community needs to avoid the development of undesired functionalities. The poster presented at IDW 2023 will highlight the main characteristics and features of the repositories relevant to the chemistry community that have been selected to implement the NFDI4Chem federation.