ELIXIR-CONVERGE D3.5 Extended toolkit

The scope of Deliverable D3.5 is two-fold: firstly, the extension of the content of the WP3 data management toolkit, known as RDMkit, based on the second wave of demonstrator use cases from WP5; and secondly, the harmonisation of the content achieved through collaboration among Research Data Management (RDM) professionals and experts from different countries and institutions (WP1). This collaboration aims to discuss, establish, and share common best practices, ensuring that RDMkit content remains comprehensive and aligns with international standards.

As already reported in ELIXIR-CONVERGE D3.2 report on “Toolkit extension based on first wave demonstrators”,  the  second wave of demonstrator use cases from WP5 have previously been added, with the  exception of the Toxicology data demonstrator. The extension described in this report adds both general and domain-specific best practices, guidelines and examples since the D3.2. Integrations with other resources and dissemination activities and impact are described in the ELIXIR-CONVERGE D3.3 report on “Single entry-point portal for the toolkit for all stakeholders” and the D3.4 report on “Dissemination of the toolkit across the ERA”.

The work detailed in this deliverable was carried out during four hybrid events organised after July 2021, aimed at extending, harmonising, and enhancing the toolkit. These events provided the platform for collaborative efforts to build upon the achievements of Deliverable D3.2 "Toolkit extension based on first wave demonstrators" completed in July 2021.

Other WPs and external partners have greatly contributed to the extension and harmonisation of RDMkit. Some of the RDM topics listed by WP1 for the final version of best practices and guidelines have already been included in RDMkit, while other topics are currently in preparation for publication. The final WP5 second wave demonstrator use case (Toxicology data) has also been added to the toolkit. The ELIXIR-CONVERGE WP9 and members of the BY-COVID project contributed to the RDMkit by sharing best practices on management of human pathogen genomics data. ELIXIR Nodes and Communities (Intrinsically Disordered Proteins, Microbial biotechnology, Proteomics, Rare diseases, Galaxy), as well as members of the research infrastructures (Instruct-ERIC,  EuroBioImaging and BBMRI), have published content to “your domain” and “tool assembly” sections. Overall, since July 2021 the RDMkit has been extended mainly via the addition of 5 domain pages, 5 task pages, 5 tool assemblies, 16 National resources pages and many revisions  to existing pages.

For this deliverable, the editorial board improved the way references to tools and resources are managed in RDMkit. With the new system, the links to tools and resources are machine-actionable, therefore managing tools and resources in RDMkit is now a more automated, traceable, robust, less error prone and a sustainable process.

Although the main intended product for this deliverable is RDMkit, the Jekyll theme called ELIXIR Toolkit Theme (ETT) powering RDMkit has had a great impact and has been used and deployed by several infrastructure providers and communities: WorkflowHub project (EOSC-Life), Infectious Diseases Toolkit (BY-COVID), 1+MG Trust Framework, FAIRDOM, ELIXIR Nodes and organisations (Norwegian Life Science RDM LookUp, Australian BioCommons How-to-Guides, ERIM Research Toolbox, ELIXIR-UK Fellowship, Code Reproducibility Training).

In conclusion, the extended and harmonised RDMkit serves as a valuable resource for research data management in the life sciences. It acts as a central hub, integrating various ELIXIR RDM resources and beyond, providing guidance and best practices. The success of RDMkit is evidenced by the strong interest from communities and the increasing contributions received. RDMkit's strength lies in its lightweight and open machinery for supporting processes and linkages, allowing RDM professionals from different countries, organisations, and domains to collaborate and share common best practices. The extension and harmonisation of RDMkit are achieved through the incorporation of diverse RDM best practices and the integration with other RDM resources, enhancing its capabilities and promoting consistent data management practices.

The impact of RDMkit can be evaluated based on the contributions from various communities and organisations, as well as the recommendations from funders. Numerous ELIXIR Nodes, communities, platforms, and EU projects have embraced RDMkit, making it a central resource for the new ELIXIR RDM community. 

The next steps for RDMkit include scaling up its content, keeping it up-to-date, and ensuring community engagement. The recently established ELIXIR Research Data Management Community aims to maintain and extend RDMkit's content while facilitating the sharing of common knowledge. Sustainability strategies are being explored, including content coordination with other ELIXIR resources and establishing a governance system for the RDMkit Alliance which was announced at BioITWorld 2023.

Furthermore, a publication about RDMkit and its processes is being prepared.