"URI","Subgroup","Consideration","Aspect","Description","Identified attributes","Supportive quotes","References","Status"
,"Rights & Ethics","Unclear permissions","Access rights","The repository clearly indicates access rights","Access rights statement given
Standard vocabulary for access rights used
","“Lack or deficiencies in the provision (and awareness by users) of clear statement of rights or information about legal conditions for reuse of data hinders legal interoperability”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p12","Added to deliverable"
,,"Lack of User-Centric Service Design","Accessibility and Support Documentation","Whether the system provides clear, user-friendly pathways for users to access, understand, and effectively use its services, particularly in cross-disciplinary or multi-platform research environments. This includes the availability of comprehensive documentation, tutorials, help interfaces, and support services that lower the barrier to entry and promote effective onboarding. Accessibility also refers to the clarity of service offerings, consistency in interfaces, and ease of locating and using relevant resources.","Whether the system provides structured, up-to-date user documentation and tutorials.

Whether multilingual or discipline-specific help resources are available.

Whether user support services are integrated and accessible.","""Clear descriptions of... service-level agreements... providing catalogues and registries of semantic artefacts...""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.19","Added to deliverable"
,"Interoperability","Lack of open and uniform interface specifications","Adoption of open API standards or protocols (REST, OAI-PMH)","Does the repository use API standards and protocols and which?","Machine-readable list of API standards used like (OpenAPI)
Machine-readable list of protocols used to exchange data
Persistent link or reference to documentation of the protocol or API specification`","""Give preference to open specifications, taking due account of the coverage of functional needs, maturity and market support and innovation.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.26","Rejected"
,"Quality","Applicability and Alignment","Alignment","Does the repository provide a policy or guidance in respect of the type of deposits it will accept, and if so, does it verify deposits for alignment? Does it offer a service to guide depositors to the most appropriate repository?","Policy or guidance exists

Policy or guidance alignment is verified for submissions

Guidance service for depositors is available",,,"WIP"
,"Rights & Ethics","Policy and Regulatory Alignment","Alignment with EU and national data policies","Repositories and services should align with applicable legal frameworks, including GDPR and national open data laws, to ensure lawful access, storage, and sharing.","Declares alignment with GDPR and/or national policies

URI to policy compliance statement

Designates Data Protection Officer or authority","“There are a number of ‘enabling’ legal instruments… EU directives and regulations, national laws, EU and national policies… that support legal interoperability.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,,"Lack of Persistent, Resolvable Identifiers for Semantic Entities","Alignment with recognised identifier systems","Whether the system is aligned with well-established identifier systems for common metadata entities, which increases the discoverability and reuse.","Indicates which established PID systems are supported and used

URI to the system policy for PIDs types and formats","“Semantic artefacts should be available preferably using open licenses (e.g., like in W3C)... EOSC should provide support for the maintenance of a repository of semantic artefacts...”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethical constraints","Attribution","Repositories clearly state the need for proper attribution of content that is reused","Evidence of guidelines for reuse or conditions of use
Licence assent is recorded	",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Transparency of Access and Rights","Clarity","Repositories clearly indicate which licences are supported","List of supported licences",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Persistent Identifier (PID) Diversity and Policy Gaps","Clear EOSC PID policy and lifecycle tracking","Does the repository have clear policies, procedures and systems to manage the lifecycle of Persistent Identifiers?","Link to policy of assignment & reassignment and deprecation of PIDs
Does the PID system tracks different versions of a object
Does the PID metadata include lifecycle status?
Are changes to metadata or PID records logged and timestamped?
Which global PID initiatives are aligned with the repository policy?","""There should be a clear EOSC PID policy, accommodating any appropriate PID usage...""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.16","Approved"
,"Interoperability","Lack of open and uniform interface specifications","Conformance testing tools","Does the repository use tools or services to determine if its services and tools used are behaving the way their specifications are written and are in line with open standards.","Publishes if automated conformance tests are conducted
Publishes and refers to the latest result of conformance tests, if available
Publishes the tool which is used to test, per service or tool if available
Publishes the frequency of testing","""Detailed specification of Architectural building blocks... Extensions will be concerning all types of building blocks, including frameworks, framework components and infrastructure enablers.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.45","Rejected"
,"Rights & Ethics","Documentation gaps","Contract and consent management","The repository manages its users' contracts and consents and assigns them to individual digital objects as necessary such as preservation agreements etc.","Links to user related contracts and agreements available 
Contract and consent management system in place","""Access to some resources may explicitly require users
to accept Terms & Conditions before access is granted""","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p12","Added to deliverable"
,,"Persistent Identifier (PID) Diversity and Policy Gaps","Cross-community PID harmonisation","Does the repository make use of Persistent Identifiers (PID)?","Publishes which persistent identifier standards it supports in a machine-readable way
Repository publishes its policy for PID?
Does the repository resolve external PIDs?
Can a PID be linked to objects in another domain?
Is PID metadata exposed in a machine-readable format?","""There is a need to have a common and well-understood PID policy across communities.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.15","Approved"
,,"Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","Crosswalks between metadata schemas","Does the TDR or TDA ensure that after the crosswalks the meaning of the metadata across systems by the presence of semantic mapping?","List of schema pairs with defined mappings

Indication if the mappings are machine readable

URI to human-readable documentation about the crosswalk

If the semantic mappings are tested for semantic correctness?","“A set of alignments (also known as crosswalks) among existing metadata models should be maintained...”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Balancing Rights and Openness","Disclosure Risk","Licences are one of the responses to an assessed disclosure risk, the others include anonymisation/ pseudonymisation, adding synthetic data, and type of storage and access management.","Evidence of a disclosure risk assessment process",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Lack of Federated Discovery Across Domain","Discovery APIs supporting varying granularity","Does the system have APIs or interfaces for data and metadata that support queries at multiple levels of granularity focusing on the internal capability for a repository being able to expose rich, multilevel discovery?","URL to discovery api
Granularity levels which are supported
List of fields that can be queried per each level of granularity
Query language used
Support for linked entity resolution
Result format of the API
Support for pagination
Metadata standards used by the API","""EOSC must enable easy access to data sources available in different formats... to facilitate overcoming their heterogeneity and allow integrating data across communities.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.15:16","Approved"
,"Quality","Completeness","Documentation","Is relevant documentation included in the deposit?","Documentation availability is verified",,,"WIP"
,,"Restriction Handling and Compliance","Documentation of applicable restrictions","Systems should publish documentation explaining the legal or ethical restrictions applied to datasets, ensuring transparency for end users and systems.","URI to restriction policy or legal guidance

Metadata includes justification for restriction

Indicates responsible authority for applying the restriction","“Legal interoperability also concerns situations where regulatory or policy measures restrict the disclosure of data… e.g., based on intellectual property law, national security, protection of endangered species or privacy regulations, such as GDPR.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Added to deliverable"
,,"Restriction Handling and Compliance","Embargos, redaction, and generalisation mechanisms","Systems should implement mechanisms to restrict data where required (e.g., embargo periods, redaction of sensitive parts, data generalisation) in line with legal or ethical requirements.","Supports embargo expiration and enforcement

Supports data redaction or obfuscation workflows

Metadata indicates if data has been generalized or redacted","“A number of mechanisms are used in practice to restrict access to data where such regulatory or policy measures exist e.g., embargo, data redaction, data generalisation…”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,"Quality","Metadata Completeness","Essential metadata fields","Data(set) submission include all essential descriptive metadata elements required by the repository, so that the dataset can be understood and discovered in the future.","A repository defines mandatory metadata fields for deposits.
Repository Curators verify metadata completeness.
Repository uses deposit form validators.

",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethical constraints","Ethics clearance","The repository has tools to perform ethical assessments","Ethical comploiance indicated in metadata
Ethical (self) assessment tool available","""EOSC users and providers will act in accordance with commonly agreed principles regarding the conduct of research to ensure ethical practices and integrity""","EOSC Rules of Participation, p 7","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethics Considerations","Ethics Clearance","The repository verifies to the best of its knowledge that outputs are the result of a research process for which ethics clearance was obtained, including provision for, and specifics of, data sharing when gaining consent.","Ethics clearance-related policy
Consent forms are linked or available
Ethics clearance documents are linked or available	",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethical constraints","Ethics governance","The repository has mechanisms in place to report on ethical misconduct and has a contingency plan in place","Feedback mechanism implemented","""EOSC participants shall be able to report misconduct by EOSC participants anonymously to an independent committee which will make recommendations to the EOSC governance and negotiate their implementation. ""","EOSC Rules of Participation, p 7","Added to deliverable"
,"Interoperability","Lack of consistent approach to implementing the OAIS Information Model for AIPs","Evaluation of AIP contents against the components of the OAIS Information Model","A TDA should be able to check the extent to which an AIP conforms to the OAIS Information Model from a technical perspective.  This includes whether the mapping to OAIS is syntactically correct, whether the claimed components of the OAIS Information Model are physically present in the AIP, and for each component whether they are technically conformant to their specified formats and schemas.","The TDA can show to what extent its AIPs conform to the requirements of OAIS.",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Policy and Regulatory Alignment","Evaluation of license mandates at different levels","License Compatibility and Reusability","Metadata includes license mandate information

Lists relevant institutional/funding policies

URI to documentation of license mandate checks","“There is a need to examine whether obligations or recommendations to use certain licenses, in particular at the national level, are coherent with specific recommendations that are or may be adopted by the EOSC interoperability framework.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,"Interoperability","Lack of well defined semantics for AIPs","Evaluaton of AIPs against the semantics of the OAIS Information Model","A TDA shall be able to describe each component of its AIPs in terms of the OAIS Information Model so that the AIP can be evaluated for completeness and conformance to the OAIS information model.  For example, which component of the AIP corresponds to PDI, Representation Information, Data Objects etc.","The TDA can map each component of its AIPs to a corresponding entity in the OAIS Information Model",,,"Approved"
,"Interoperability","Lack of well defined mechanism for exchanging AIPs between organisations and systems","Exchange of AIPs between organisations","There should be a well defined protocol and set of API endpoints that can be used to request and execute transfer of AIPs in whole or in part between organisations.  This includes support for AIP versioning and synchronisation of AIP versions between organisations.","The TDA supports access to and exchange of its AIPs using a defined protocol and set of APIs.",,,"Approved"
,,"Fragmentation of Semantic Annotation Practices","External annotation services or tools","Whether the system supports and uses external tools or services for applying, managing and/or enriching metadata with semantic annotations. Possibly enabling decoupled annotation workflows.","Whether the system supports the integration of external platforms for annotate metadata

Whether semantic annotations can be bound to objects via PIDs

Whether the system provides interfaces for manual or assisted semantic enrichment","""Need for principled approaches and tools for ontology and metadata schema creation, maintenance, governance and use.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Quality","Automated FAIR Metadata assessment","FAIR assessment aggregated score","The curator, or the system includes a FAIR score in the deposit and publishes them on different levels.","FAIR assessment score available on object level
FAIR assessment score on collection level
FAIR assessment score on repository level",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Automated FAIR Metadata assessment","FAIR assessment tool","The repository should be transparant on which automated FAIR assessment tools it uses.","Which FAIR assessment tool(s) was used?",,,"Approved"
,,"Lack of Federated Discovery Across Domain","Federated and cross-domain query support","Is the system capable of querying across domains to participate in external cross-domain discovery networks?","Can query multiple external sources from one interface
Supported protocols for federated search
List to machine-readable registry of known external queryable sources
Is the search real time or done after harvesting or indexing
Can the end user filter by disciplinary domain or repository
List or indexed or harvested sources","""Need for federated access over existing research data repositories (both inside a discipline and across disciplines).""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,,"Federated Identity and Trust Frameworks","Federated Identity Support","Does the repository or service allow users to authenticate using their existing institutional or research infrastructure credentials? Federated identity support ensures users don’t need to create new accounts for every service, enabling secure, scalable access.","Does the repository support login through federated identity providers?

Which identity providers or infrastructures are supported?

Are group/role memberships provided by identity providers accepted and mapped?

Are metadata attributes from the identity provider utilized?","""Need for a clear governance framework that includes clear instructions on how theother levels ... (data formats, AAI services, metadata schemas, ontologies, etc.). This should also include the management of permanent organisation names and functions""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.18:19","Approved"
,"Quality","Files have not been evaluated for format appraisal (i.e. how suitable is the file format for long-term preservation)","File format appraisal","File formats must have been evaluated for appraisal, indicating how suitable they are for preservation.","Evidence of how suitable different file formats are for preservation.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"A repository does not know what file formats it preserves","File format identification","The repository or service is able to identify file formats to a desired level of granularity. All file formats that are supported by the TDA are identified.","The repository indicates a level of granularity for each file format (file format versions, profiles).
The repository provides a possible integration of several different tools for different file formats.
The repository reports identified file formats in a standardized, machine-actionable manner.
The repository provides a linking to file format registries.",,,"Approved"
,,"A repository does not know if files it preserves are well-formed and valid","File format validation","The repository or service is able to verify the well-formedness and validity of files. Validation should be performed on all file formats that are supported by the TDA.","Wrongly identified files are detected.
The service ensures that the files can be accessed with contemporary software.
Invalid files are identified with a detailed error message that describes the issue.",,,"Approved"
,,"A repository does not know if files it preserves are well-formed and valid","File format validation error database","The TDA should document commonly encountered file format validation errors and their solutions in a regularly maintained database.","Repository maintains a database that documents file format validation errors.
Repository has defined a process for updating the database.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Files are corrupted, broken and unusable","File repair","The repository has a process for repairing invalid files.","Invalid files can be detected. 
Invalid files can be repaired according to a documented, standardized process.",,,"Approved"
,,"Files are stored in file formats that are obsolete","Format migration","Files in formats that have become obsolete are migrated to formats that are sustainable.","Files are in sustainable formats.
The service provides guidance for high-quality format conversions.",,,"Approved"
,,"Files are not in a supported or sustainable file format","Format normalization","Files in unsupported formats are normalized to formats that are sustainable and suistable for digital preservation.","Files are in sustainable formats.
The service provides guidance for high-quality format conversions.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Files are not in a supported or sustainable file format","Format transformation tools registry","A registry that lists common tools for transforming file formats from format a to format b","Repository is aware of tools that can be implemented for file format transformation actions.",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethics Considerations","Fraud","The repository takes precautions to detect and reject fraudulent submissions","Statistical integrity verification

Plagiarism check performed

Duplicate publication verified",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Legal and Contractual Aspects","GDPR","The repository verifies whether personal data is included in the deposit, and if so, follows a procedure to determine the level of protection required and implements it","Personal/ Sensitive Data Policy exists

Object or submission is tested for sensitivity

Object is verified against policy

Sensitive data licences available",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Transparency of Access and Rights","Granularity","Repositories should indicate the scope and applicability of the licence","Actors expected to act on the licence
Scope of the licence: object level, dataset level, etc.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Automated FAIR Metadata assessment","Guidance on FAIR compliance","The repository/system publishes guidance on improvement of the FAIRness score of a deposit, so that a depositor can use this to improve the FAIRness of the deposit.","Expose guidance on FAIRness (API)",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Legal and Contractual Aspects","Illegal Content","The repository verifies that illegal content is not included in the deposit.","Legality of content verified",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Ethics Considerations","Inappropriate Content","The repository takes measures to identify and reflect inappropriate content","Checked for malicious content

Checked for nonsense or irrelevant content                ",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Sovereignty","Infrastructure Location","Repositories may want to indicate to end users where their resources are stored physically
Data security and integrity information","Data security and integrity information
Indication of locality (country) of data storage",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Format Fragmentation in Research Data","Integration Tools for Bridging Formats","Does the repository use services or tools which are also available to translate, transform, mediate between different data formats (e.g. package structures, file formats, metadata standards)?","Publishes URI to service or documentation for a transformation service if such service is available
Publishes the tools used for this service
Publishes if the service or tool is part of a workflow, such as ingestion, validations ….)","""Technical interoperability covers the applications and infrastructures linking systems and services, including interface specifications, interconnection services, data integration services, data presentation and exchange, and secure communication protocols.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.11","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Policy and Regulatory Alignment","Inventory","Repositories should make a list of applicable policies available in a machine-readable way","Policy inventory list with links to latest copies",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Multilingual Metadata","Language Localization and indexation","A repository supports metadata in multiple languages to broaden accessibility.
Providing translations for titles/abstracts or using multilingual thesauri for subjects.","A repository UI and schema allow for key metadata to be entered in more than one language.
Multilingual vocabulary support is implemented.",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Legal and Regulatory","Legal - GDPR Compliance","The repository verifies whether personal data is included in the deposit (including pseudonymised data),  and if so, follows a procedure to determine the level of protection required and implements it","Personal/ Sensitive Data Policy exists
Privacy Statement available
Personal Data Removal Request Procedure exists
Confirmation of personal data removal can be provided
GDPR-Compliant Privacy Statement is available	",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Legal uncertainty","Legal clearance","The repository provides mechanisms and tools to assess the legal compliance of its assets.","Legal compliance indicated in metadata
Legal (self) assessment tool available","“Open data and FAIR principles need to be balanced against legal restrictions and legitimate interests”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p23","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Licensing conflicts","Licence provision","The repository maintains a registry or list of accepted licenses","Licence registry or dictionary available","“Standardised human and machine-readable licenses, with a centralised source of knowledge and support on copyright and licenses.”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p27, p23","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Licensing conflicts","Licence stewardship","The repository regularly checks assigned licenses and has workflows in place to replace outdated or invalid licenses in a legally compliant manner. ","Licenses are up to date","“Tracking of license evolution over time for datasets”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p4","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","License Compatibility and Reusability","License alignment and combinability","Ensures that licenses applied to datasets and metadata can be legally combined or reused across different systems or domains. This is crucial in collaborative research where data from multiple sources is aggregated or remixed.","Indicates which licenses are used by the repository

Publishes compatibility matrix or guidance on combining licenses

Provides guidance for users on how to choose combinable licenses","“Legal interoperability requires… that data should be reusable. It concerns the ability to combine datasets from multiple sources without conflicts among restrictions imposed by the license of each dataset.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.12","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Licensing conflicts","License guidance","The repository provides user guidance to select the most appropriate license","License selection tool available","“Standardised human and machine-readable licenses, with a centralised source of knowledge and support on copyright and licenses.”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p27, p23","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Licensing conflicts","License standarisation","The repository uses commonly accepted machine readable standard terms (or URIs)  to indicate licenses","Metadata standards supporting explicit indication of licenses
Standard vocabulary used for licenses
Machine readable licenses","
“All copyrightable data and metadata should include a standardised human and machine-readable license”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p27, p23","Added to deliverable"
,"Interoperability","Machine-readable rights for digital preservation of AIPs","Machine readable rights specifications","Rights change over time and for a large number of AIPs the checks to ensure appropriate rights are in place can be burdersome.  Therefore, rights statements need to be machine readable to support automated checks.","The TDA can automatically check and confirm it has the legal basis for holding and preserving its AIPs.",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Clarity and Automation of Legal Conditions","Machine-readable licensing terms","Licensing information should be machine-readable to allow systems to automatically process and enforce legal conditions for access and reuse.","Metadata includes license in machine-readable format

Declares which standard vocabularies or schemas are used for licenses

URI to machine-readable license expression","“Legal interoperability requires that metadata is FAIR… and that the conditions for access and use are clearly and readily determinable through automated means and that they do not conflict with each other.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,,"Inconsistent Use of Controlled Vocabularies and Ontologies","Machine-readable vocabulary linking","Whether the system has the capability to expose the controlled vocabularies and ontologies terms in such format it is machine-readable which increases metadata interpretation, reasoning and integration across systems automatically.","Publishes a list of machine-readable formats it is supporting

Publishes URIs which resolve to a useful representation of terms

Which well known namespaces are used in the metadata 

URI or reference to documentation for the vocabulary of use

API which offers an endpoint to query or explore linked vocabularies","""Every semantic artefact that is being maintained in EOSC must have sufficient associated documentation, with clear examples of usage and conceptual diagrams... any semantic artefact should also be FAIR.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Added to deliverable"
,,"Persistent Identifier (PID) Diversity and Policy Gaps","Machine-resolvable PIDs","Does the repository have the capability to autoresolve metadata based on PIDs?","Is the PID globally unique?
Is the PID resolvable via HTTPS?
Does the PID resolve to a machine-readable landing page with metadata?
Does the resolver of the PID support different formats of metadata
Supported metadata formats for the PID by the API
Latency inf resolution of the PID
Which type of PID is used in the repository","""...different sets of policies are enforced to varying degrees, and sometimes the identifiers are not resolvable (e.g., IUPAC InChi-KEY...)""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.15","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Open Metadata and Bibliographic Information","Metadata","Repositories should explicitly state that bibliographic data and non-sensitive metadata are available under a CC0 licence.","Licence in use for metadata (bibliographic, non-sensitive)
Include metadata/ bibliographic data in privacy statement
",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Format Fragmentation in Research Data","Metadata Alignment across Heterogeneous Formats","Does the repository support the ability to map, transform and/or align metadata that comes in different schemas, standards, or structural formats?","Publishes a list of supported metadata schemas
Publishes a list which metadata schemas can be crosswalked","""Metadata records of digital objects in repositories and data archives are in various metadata standards, profiles, and schemes. Some repositories have defined customized metadata schemas. They transform their metadata elements into the metadata application profile required by search engines, metadata aggregators, bibliographic cataloguing systems.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.46","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Clarity and Automation of Legal Conditions","Metadata describing access and use conditions","Access rights and usage conditions for data should be clearly expressed in metadata to inform users and enable automated decision-making.","Metadata includes access condition fields

Standard terms or controlled vocabularies used

URI pointing to detailed access policy","“In cases where access to data is restricted or subject to conditions, legal interoperability requires that metadata is FAIR... enabling data discovery, that the conditions for access and use are clearly and readily determinable.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Machine-Actionable Metadata","Metadata discovery","Metadata should be findable not only by humans, but also by machines.","Repository compliance to FAIR Signposting specifications.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Lack of Federated Discovery Across Domain","Metadata indexing at multiple levels","Is the system able to index metadata at different levels (e.g. dataset level, file level, service level)?","List of indexed metadata levels per source
URI to access indexed metadata
Frequency of updating the index
Format of the indexed data
Which levels are exposed to harvesters
Index profile or standard used","""A minimum metadata model should be proposed in the future to ease discovery over existing federated research data and metadata.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Quality","Metadata Fitness for Reuse","Metadata Provenance","Metadata holds sufficient context for reuse of the data, such as provenance information.","Provenance information is recorded as part of the metadata.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Metadata schema Compliance","Metadata Standards Alignment","Metadata needs to conform to metadata standards or schemas relevant to the domain or general best practice. Repositories should declare which metadata schema(s) they use and support interoperability via mappings.","A repository publishes the metadata standards it uses.
Crosswalks or mappings to other schemas are available to support exchange.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Persistent Identifier (PID) Diversity and Policy Gaps","Metadata-linked identifiers","Does the repository support PID which are connected to structured descriptive metadata?","Does the PID link to structured metadata?
The format of the exposed metadata
Is the structured metadata resolvable only using the PID?
The metadata conforms to which standard?
Metadata includes provenance data?
Endpoint to retrieve metadata linked to PID","""...each semantic artefact... must have sufficient associated documentation... Any semantic artefact should also be FAIR.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,,"Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","Multilingual metadata support","Is the system able to provide the metadata in different languages to give people from different backgrounds the ability to interpret them consistently?","List of supported languages

Do metadata fields include language tags?

Does the system support multilingual search?

If the metadata fields are available in more than one language?","While not mentioned explicitly, multilingual support is indirectly implied by the need for broad accessibility and harmonisation across international communities.","~","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Inconsistent policies","Policy (type) provision","The repository uses a controlled vocabulary to indicate the policy type of its policy documents. ","Policy vocabulary used
Policy documents indicate policy type in metadata","“Recommendation [..] Harmonised policy and guidance”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p4,","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Misalignment of Institutional Policies","Policy includes machine-readable terms","Whether the repository’s data policy is encoded in a structured, machine-readable format (e.g., JSON-LD, XML, RDF), allowing automated tools and external systems to ingest, assess, or integrate policy information.","If the policy includes embedded machine-readable metadata

Which format or encoding is used

If specific access and reuse conditions are semantically tagged

If tools can automatically parse license or policy clauses","Not explicitly stated, but FAIR implies machine-actionable metadata and terms","~","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Misalignment of Institutional Policies","Policy includes versioning information","Whether the repository maintains and displays version history of its data policy, enabling traceability and clarity over policy changes for users and collaborators.","If the policy document includes a version number or date

If a changelog or revision history is maintained

If older versions of the policy are archived and accessible

If changes between versions are documented","""User rights, restrictions and conditions of use may change over time... right-statements made in the past may no longer reflect the current rights-holder...""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.19","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Inconsistent policies","Policy standardisation","The repository exposes policies in a standardised way.","Metadata standards supporting explicit indication of policies
","“Repositories may use different terms and conditions of use, which may not be compatible with each other”
“Recommendation [..] Harmonised policy and guidance”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p4,","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Authenticity and Originality","Provenance","Repositories can inspect provenance information to confirm the authenticity of work submitted for publication","Provenance verified

RO-Crate record exists and is linked",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Transparency of Access and Rights","Publication Consent","Have all the rights owners to the work consented to its submission to the repository and its publication?","RIghtsholder consent obtained",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Undefined Roles and Responsibilities","Published Service Ownership","Whether the system provides publicly available information on the ownership, custodianship, or stewardship of services and components. This includes identifying the responsible individuals or entities for service operation, maintenance, and decision-making, which enhances transparency and accountability within EOSC.","Whether service ownership is clearly documented and published.

Whether the owning organization or contact point is persistently identified.

Whether changes in service ownership are tracked and versioned over time.

Whether ownership metadata is exposed through service catalogues or registries.","“It should also be clear who is responsible for providing (as well as developing, maintaining and curating) common interoperability services like service catalogues, registers and common PID services.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.19","Added to deliverable"
,,"FAIR Metadata Despite Restrictions to Data Access","Publishing of access policies even for restricted content","Repositories should expose access policies for restricted datasets in a machine-readable way so that users and automated systems can understand access limitations.","Access policies are publicly available

Machine-readable access policy formats supported

URI to access condition documentation","“FAIR principles do not restrict recognition of legitimate reasons for shielding data… conditions for access and use are clearly and readily determinable…”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Unclear permissions","Publishing rights","The repository clearly indicates publication rights","Publication rights given
Standard vocabulary for publication rights used
","“Need for documents explaining terms and conditions and acceptable use policies”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p19","Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Licences and Machine Actionability","Re-appraisal","Repositories should re-appraise the objects in the repository from time to time, either with scheduled frequency or due to defined triggers.","Last date of re-appraisal, including licence re-appraisal",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Interoperability","Lack of open and uniform interface specifications","Reference implementations and API guidelines","Does the repository provide manuals or documentation for their services and protocols they use?","Machine-readable interface documentation exists
Human readable interface documentation exists
Service description has been published","""Reuse and share solutions (e.g., software components, Application Programming Interfaces, standards), and cooperate in the development of joint solutions when implementing EOSC services.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.26","Rejected"
,,"Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","Reference repositories for semantic artefacts","Does the TDR or TDA ensure that semantic artefacts used in metadata are discoverable and accessible through domain-recognized reference repositories to promote reuse, semantic consistency, and machine-actionability?","List of referenced semantic repositories

Presence of PIDs for artefacts

Human-readable documentation URI","""The previous problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is a generalised lack of common reference repositories or registries of semantic....""
""EOSC should provide support for the maintenance of a repository of semantic artefacts, and a governance framework for such a repository""
""Every semantic artefact that is being ... mples of usage and conceptual diagrams. Furthermore, any semantic artefact should also be FAIR""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.16
EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17
EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Quality","Machine-Actionable Metadata","Repository affordances discovery","Metadata should be findable not only by humans, but also by machines.","Repository compliance to the FAIRiCAT specifications.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Misalignment of Institutional Policies","Repository has a publicly accessible data policy webpage","Whether the repository publishes its data policy in a clearly accessible location on its website, so external partners can understand the conditions and frameworks governing data access, reuse, and preservation.","If the repository data policy is publicly available online

Where the data policy is located

If the policy is linked from metadata or landing pages","""Need for documents explaining terms and conditions and acceptable use policies for services providing interoperability.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.19","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Authenticity and Originality","Research Origin Verified","The repository verifies that the submission was made by a researcher or someone making a deposit in a research context, and that it is a dataset associated with original research","Depositor context verified

maDMP is available and linked

Peer-reviewed publication linked",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Online and Offline Storage Options","Retrieval and Access","Does the repository support access to and retrieval of data stored on tape?","Ability to retrieve file storage status (online/offline, in tape, etc.).
Automated recall from tape to online storage.",,,"Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Unclear permissions","Right statement standardisation","The repository transparently exposes standardised right statements","Metadata standards supporting explicit indication of access rights
Generic vocabulary used to describe rights (ODRL)","“Lack or deficiencies in the provision (and awareness by users) of clear statement of rights or information about legal conditions for reuse of data hinders legal interoperability”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p12","Added to deliverable"
,,"Undefined Roles and Responsibilities","Role Metadata in Deposit and Curation","Whether systems capture and expose metadata about individual and organizational roles involved in the deposit, curation, maintenance, and management of digital objects. This includes identifying roles such as data steward, curator, depositor, reviewer, or administrator.","Whether role-based metadata is included in the object or collection’s metadata.

Whether roles are linked to persistent identifiers

Whether systems allow role assignment during data submission and curation processes.

Whether provenance of role-related actions is recorded and auditable.","Not explicitly mentioned but, “Most research communities are already accounting for the need to align to the overall goals for Open Science that EOSC is looking for... lack of recognition for this additional work, both from institutions and colleagues.” states that there is a lack of recognition, which identifies a need for standardization in roles","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.12","Approved"
,,"Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","Schema.org or FAIR-compliant metadata exposure","Whether the system is exposing the metadata in a structured, machine-readable format aligned with FAIR principles?","FAIR formats used and supported by the system?

If the system supports multiple formats

If the system adherence to a specific type of metadata model or profile","“A minimum metadata model should be proposed... based on reuse of existing standards like DCAT-AP, DDI 4 Core, DataCite core schema…”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Quality","Completeness","Self-contained","Do the dataset or files need any additional dependencies to be reusable and understood?","Dependencies are verified by curators",,,"WIP"
,,"Lack documented properties of files in a repository","Significant properties definition","The repository or service can define and document the significant properties of the supported file formats.","Machine-actionable templates for each file format supported by the TDA.
Possible scoring or weighting of different significant properties.
Documentation is used in workflows for planning and evaluating possible file format conversion paths and processes.",,,"Approved"
,,"Fragmentation of Semantic Annotation Practices","SLA semantics","Does the service clearly and consistently define the semantics of its Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) in a way that is interpretable both by humans and machines across communities?","Does the system publish the SLAs in a machine-readable format?

Which vocabulary does the system use for the SLAs?

Does the system link to a human-readable version of the SLA?

Is the system declaring community-aligned definitions for services attributes such as uptime, ticket response time ..?","""The Service-Level Agreements for all EOSC resource providers should be easy to understand by users from different communities""
""Besides this machine-based view of semantic interoperability, this layer also requires humans being sufficiently aligned to have satisfactor ... the different levels of interoperability are""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.15
EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.11:12","Approved"
,,"Inconsistent Service Workflows","Standardised Data Deposit Process","Whether the system supports a harmonised, community-aligned workflow for data publication and deposit. This includes ensuring that data providers follow agreed protocols for metadata generation, format selection, validation, and submission. The standardisation of deposit workflows fosters interoperability, simplifies reuse, and ensures consistent metadata quality across domains.","Whether the system enforces the use of community-agreed metadata standards during deposit

Whether there is a defined sequence of steps for data publication

Whether data deposits are linked to persistent identifiers and versioned consistently

Whether machine-actionable APIs are available to support automated or assisted deposit processes","""The current set of rules of participation recommendations should be completed with aspects related to interoperability. For instance, for data providers this may include asking explicitly that data is published according to specific data formats and/or vocabularies for a specific community.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.19","Added to deliverable"
,,"Standards-Based Authentication Mechanisms","Standards Support","Does the repository or service implement widely accepted authentication and authorisation protocols such as SAML, OpenID Connect, or OAuth2? Supporting well-established standards ensures compatibility with federated identity providers, secure machine-to-machine communication, and interoperability with EOSC’s AAI ecosystem. This also facilitates cross-service user access and integration with external infrastructures.","Which authentication standards are supported?

Does the service support login via institutional or federated identity providers?

Are authentication mechanisms compliant with EOSC AAI recommendations?

Is there technical documentation outlining supported protocols and endpoints?","""This section presents usual problems and needs that are being faced by the user ... authorisation is hard to harmonise based on centrally-maintained user attributes.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.14","Approved"
,,"Online and Offline Storage Options","Storage Management","Is the repository able to manage data stored on tape?","Ability to store content data on offline tape libraries.
Efficient upload/download for large files (i.e. 100GB+ too large for download through browser)",,,"Approved"
,"Quality","Machine-Actionable Metadata","Structured and parseable metadata","Metadata is published in a format and structure that computers can parse and understand with minimal human intervention.","Metadata includes persistent identifiers for entities (data, contributors, etc.)
Standard ontologies or vocabularies are used.
Metadata can be retrieved via machine-accessible services or APIs.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Policy and Regulatory Alignment","Subject Protection","Repositories should indicate the relevant policy that addresses its provisions for protection of subject rights, confirmation or verification of ethics concerns, and compliance with legal obligations","Evidence of policy addressing ethics and rights
Evidence of an ethics and rights-focused checklist for curators and depositors
",,,"Added to deliverable"
,,"Format Fragmentation in Research Data","Support for both General-purpose and Domain-specific Formats","Does the repository publish information about which type of data and which formats it supports for preservation?","Publishes which types of information the repository stores in a machine-readable interface. (software, analysis, raw data)
Publish policies and refers them with persistent uri about formatting of file formats to a desired type by the repository","""EOSC must enable easy access to data sources available in different formats, either generic or community-based, to facilitate overcoming their heterogeneity and allow integrating data across communities.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.15","Added to deliverable"
,,"Format Fragmentation in Research Data","Support for Different Packaging Standards","Does the repository have the capability to accept, produce or convert between different packaging standards?","Publishes a list of packaging standards which are accepted?
Publishes a list of packaging standards the service or tools can produce
Publishes the packaging standard used by the repository internally
Publishes a list of packaging standards in can coverts to
Publishes a list of community-specific packaging standards it supports
Publishes if the services or tools auto-discover the used packaging standard on ingest.","""Examples of Digital Objects proposed in the past are Research Objects and some of their implementations (e.g., RO-Crate, the BagIt specification).""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.8","Approved"
,,"Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","Support for domain-specific metadata profiles","Does the TDR or TDA have the capability to expose metadata that is following community- or discipline-specific metadata profiles in addition to generic standards.","What is the default metadata profile which is used?

Does the system let users select a metadata profile?

Is the metadata validated against its profile?

Does the system give references to the documentation of each profile?

The system is giving a url, on which the schema can be found machine-readable

Are there any crosswalks available and from and to the metadata schemas?

Does the system register its profile to a community registry?

Support extension of profiles?","“There should be extensibility options to allow for disciplinary metadata... allowing users/researchers to add annotations according to the established practices of their communities...”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.18","Added to deliverable"
,,"Fragmentation of Semantic Annotation Practices","Support for embedded semantic annotations","Whether the system supports embedded semantic annotations.","Whether metadata can include embedded semantic structures

Publishes context or vocabularies used in the semantic markup","""There should be extensibility options to allow for disciplinary metadata... with sufficient provenance information on the annotations, and with versioning support.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.18","Added to deliverable"
,,"Inconsistent Use of Controlled Vocabularies and Ontologies","Support for multilingual vocabularies","Whether the system has the capability to use or expose controlled vocabularies in multiple languages enabling different linguistic backgrounds to interpret, search and reuse metadata across domains.","If the system supports multilingual terms

If the system add language tags to the metadata or vocabularies

If the system allows users to browse or search in their preferred languages and which

Which languages are supported by the controlled vocabularies

To which language the systems falls back","While not explicitly stated, multilingualism is implied in the need for vocabularies to be “FAIR” and “shared across disciplines,”","~","Rejected"
,,"Lack of Persistent, Resolvable Identifiers for Semantic Entities","Support for multilingual vocabularies","Whether the system is aligned with well-established identifier systems for common metadata entities, which increases the discoverability and reuse.","Indicates which established PID systems are supported and used

URI to the system policy for PIDs types and formats","While not explicitly stated, multilingualism is implied in the need for vocabularies to be “FAIR” and “shared across disciplines""","~","Approved"
,,"Lack of Persistent, Resolvable Identifiers for Semantic Entities","Support for semantic identifier dereferencing","Whether the system is supported and that the URI referencing structured information is resolvable.","Whether the identifiers used in metadata can be dereferenced

Whether the identifiers return structured machine-readable data","“Every semantic artefact... must have sufficient associated documentation... Furthermore, any semantic artefact should also be FAIR.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,,"Lack documented properties of files in a repository","Technical metadata extraction","The repository or service is able to extract relevant technical metadata from files based on the defined significant properties. Tools for metadata extraction exist for all file formats that are supported by the TDA.","Technical metadata is produced in a standardized, interoperable format.
If technical metadata is extracted by using different tools, the outputs are harmonized and mapped to technical metadata standards.",,,"Approved"
,"Interoperability","Machine-Actionable Metadata","The efficient reuse of FAIR metrics information from DMP information systems, suggested attribute: FAIR metrics","The possible efficient reuse of FAIR metrics from external information systems",,,,"Approved"
,"Interoperability","Lack of Metadata Harmonization Across Domains","The efficient reuse of metadata from maDMP (extracting to create SIP), suggested attribute: authoriative metadata ","Repositories should be able to reuse (authoriative) metadata from other Information Systems, by harvesting, extracting, crosswalks etc. ",,,,"Approved"
,"Interoperability","Machine-Actionable Metadata","The efficient use of machine-actions connected to maDMP, suggested attribute: machine-action","Reusing project descriptions and dataset descriptions when available in a machine-actionable maDMPs",,,,"Approved"
,"Interoperability","Diverse range of formats and specifications used for AIPs","The technical details of each component of an AIP are well defined and at all levels.","There needs to be a mechanism that allows a TDA to describe each component of its AIPs in terms of the technical formats, specifications and standards that are used.  For example, the formats used for metadata (e.g. json, CSV, XML etc), references to the schemas that apply (e.g. DataCite, DCAT etc.),the specfications used for layout (e.g. OCFL), the information package standards followed (e.g. E-ARK), the technical mapping to the OAIS Information Model, and how content is packaged for transfer (e.g. bagit). ","The TDA can describe the technical standards and specifications it follows for all aspects of serialising and packaging an AIP.",,,"Approved"
,,"Lack of Federated Discovery Across Domain","Top-level and fine-grained search mechanisms","Does the repository support high-level and/or detailed level search?","Repository or Archive support high level searching
Repository or Archive support low level searching
Publish list of searchable metadata fields
Support for filtering based on content properties
Response format of search service
Supported harvesting protocols
Does the repository accept data from other sources than its own serving community?
Publishes which metadata standards the repository supports
Publishes which protocol is used for harvesting
Publishes if the repository supports crosswalks
Publishes documentation about versioning","""Coarse-grained and fine-grained dataset (and other research object) search tools need to be made available.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.16","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","Transparency of Access and Rights","Transparency","Repositories ensure that all access conditions, restrictions, or limitations are transparent, and preferably machine-readable.","Machine-actionable licences used
Provisions are encoded using a published vocabulary
",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Balancing Rights and Openness","TRUST-Access Conditions","Repositories ensure that access conditions are implemented and enforced.","Record of access requests and outcomes",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Quality","Metadata Fitness for Reuse","Usage license","Metadata holds sufficient context for reuse of the data, such as usage license.","Metadata records include a data usage license statement from a license list.",,,"Added to deliverable"
,"Rights & Ethics","Unclear permissions","Usage rights","The repository clearly indicates usage rights","Usage rights / Terms of Use given
Standard vocabulary for usage rights used
","“Need for documents explaining terms and conditions and acceptable use policies”","EOSC Interoperabilty Framework, p19","Added to deliverable"
,,"Inconsistent Use of Controlled Vocabularies and Ontologies","Use of community-endorsed controlled vocabularies","Whether the system is making use of standard and authoritative vocabularies for metadata elements to enhance shared understanding.","System publishes a list of controlled vocabularies it uses

Which vocabularies are relevant for the domain of the system

List of metadata fields which use controlled vocabularies and which","""All communities should generate clear and precise definitions for the concepts that they use, as well as their metadata and data schemas.""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,,"FAIR Metadata Despite Restrictions","Use of persistent identifiers for restricted data","Even if a dataset cannot be openly shared, it should still be assigned a persistent identifier (PID) so it can be discovered, cited, and tracked across systems.","PID is assigned to restricted datasets

PID resolves to restricted-access landing page

Metadata includes explanation of access conditions","“FAIR data does not necessarily mean Open… In cases where access to data is restricted… metadata is FAIR, i.e., using accepted standards to describe the data and thereby enabling their discovery.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,,"Lack of Persistent, Resolvable Identifiers for Semantic Entities","Use of PIDs for semantic terms","Whether the system is supporting PID for semantic terms","Which metadata values are associated with URI-based identifiers

Which authoritative sources are used for entities

Which identifiers are supported","“All communities should generate clear and precise definitions for the concepts that they use... These definitions should be publicly available, referenced by a persistent identifier...”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Rights & Ethics","License Compatibility and Reusability","Use of standardized open licenses","Repositories and services should adopt well-known, standardized open licenses to reduce legal uncertainty and support broad reuse across domains.","Lists supported license types

URI to license policy

Indicates default license applied if none is provided by depositor","“The fewest restrictions contained in the source datasets will result in the fewest restrictions contained in the combined or derivative datasets.”","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.13","Approved"
,,"Inconsistent Use of Controlled Vocabularies and Ontologies","Vocabulary harmonisation and mapping services","Whether the system has services available to align or map terms across different vocabularies or ontologies. These mappings ensure semantical equivalent terms for a wide variety of communities which this way can be interpreted consistently.","List of available mappings between vocabularies

Supported mapping services

Standard mapping formats","""...a set of alignments (also known as crosswalks) among existing metadata models should be maintained...""","EOSC Interoperability Framework, p.17","Approved"
,"Interoperability","Lack of well defined semantics for AIPs","Well defined semantics for each component of an AIP","There needs to be a mechanism that allows a TDA to describe each component of its AIPs in terms of the semantics that apply, for example which schemas, vocabularies and ontologies are being used.  This includes the semantics of the data in the AIP, the semantics of associated information such as provenance, fixity, rights and quality, and the contents AIP as defined by the semantics of the OAIS Information Model. ","The TDA can demonstrate what semantic standards and specifications it follows its holdings.

The TDA can describe its holdings according to the semantics of the OAIS Information model.",,,"Approved"
,,,,,,,,"Approved"