EOSC EDEN – Towards a Shared Understanding of what is Necessary for Long-Term Archiving: EOSC EDEN Core Preservation Processes

The EU Horizon Europe project EOSC EDEN was launched in 2025 to support trustworthy digital preservation in research data infrastructures. This paper introduces a first output of EOSC EDEN, the Core Preservation Processes (CPPs), a structured yet flexible set of process descriptions that articulates the essential steps involved in digital preservation in a hands-on manner. Developed by practitioners and designed as practical guidance, the 30 CPPs describe essential, system-agnostic actions that should be ensured by trusted digital archives. By offering a shared terminology and process model, the CPPs help bridge gaps between research data management and digital preservation, providing the communities a powerful tool to support training, policy, and system development. They shall address the challenge of making digital preservation knowledge more accessible, actionable and interoperable within the EOSC ecosystem and beyond.