DataPLANT signs the ''Leipzig-Berlin-Erklärung zu NFDI-Querschnittsthemen der Infrastrukturentwicklung''

16 Jun 2020

DataPLANT is a co-signatory of the Leipzig-Berlin Declaration on NFDI Cross-Sectional Issues in Infrastructure Development and regards this joint document as the basis for the necessary mutual coordination based on sustainable processes and structures. For example, topics that are relevant to several expert consortia are to be worked on cooperatively and across individual consortia in the interests of sustainable interoperability. Further questions from the areas of infrastructure, integration of service providers and sustainable financing are to be discussed as well. In addition, legal issues relating to the preservation, sharing and re-use of digital objects are of relevance to all consortia. Therefore, key issues concerning licences, the handling of sensitive data, IT law, data protection and confidentiality of data should be addressed for the whole NFDI.

A central challenge for all consortia is the sustainable long-term access to research data. This includes topics such as data provenance and sovereignty of data, sustainability and security of data, tools and services, as well as persistent identifiers (e.g. DOIs or ePICs) and the certification of data repositories and archives. This includes in particular the securing of technical access and productive subsequent use options for the original research and creation context (re-use). Suitable measures for the management of research software must also be agreed. This includes the operation of development and archiving repositories, the management of metadata for referencing and citation, and the standardized description of software code.