Research data management is the core of our work. GFBio aims at supporting individual researchers, research groups and projects to develop and implement effective data management strategies for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data as a part of good scientific practice during all stages of the Data Life Cycle.
You can ask for support in defining your data management strategy as well as setting up your data management plan. We provide access to tools, standards and working platforms, we train your staff and accompany your data management during the entire project term.
In the following, get to know how GFBio supports the different aspects of Data Management.
Questions regarding data management, our services or you data sets? Contact our helpdesk!
A well-structured Data Management Plan (DMP) clarifies how and what data will be created, processed and documented. It names means of data archiving and publication, regarding costs as well as access conditions to the scientific community or the public.
DMPs are increasingly required as a mandatory proposal part by funding agencies. DFG demands information on data handling ( DFG Proposal Preparation Instructions) and individual working groups highly recommend the introduction of data management plans for projects/proposals by default ( Guidelines on the Handling of Research Data in Biodiversity Research).
GFBio helps you preparing your personal data management plan. Start with our DMP Tool and ask our experts for support. They identify suitable data archives, give advice concerning data management policies and data access rules, estimate data management costs and efforts and provide a roadmap for your long-term data availability. Furthermore, we offer reviewing of your DMP regarding special requirements of your funding agency.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Plan
GFBio Data Management Plan Tool
How to create a data management plan (DMP)?
Assessing data quality is one of the main challenges when promoting data reuse. GFBio provides access to tools, standards and working platforms (e.g. BExIS 2 and Diversity Workbench, DWB) which support you during data collection as well as quality assurance and control. Find example templates for the organization of biological or environmental samples, occurrence data and molecular sequence data to manage your data compliant with GFBio from the collection on until the submission and archiving. With our visualization-tool, you can for example create a graphical overlay with other data to detect errors. Assurance is important in order to monitor and maintain data quality during the whole data life cycle. Data quality is one of the main challenges when promoting data reuse.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Collect
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Assure
Excel templates for the organization of biological or environmental samples, occurrence data and molecular sequence data can be found in the GFBio collection of recommended data submission templates
Data curation makes your data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. The organisation and description of data, the accumulation of ontologies or data publication are examples for data curation processes.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Describe
To transfer your data from your private research domain to a shared research domain, GFBio offers several custom workflows depending on the (primary) data type. GFBio offers long term storage of your data by our collaborating archives and data centers. Find example templates for the submission of biological or environmental samples, occurrence data and molecular sequence data to manage your data compliant with GFBio from the collection on until the submission and archiving. In case of questions concerning metadata, data formats, terms of reuse or citation our experts will help you.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Submit
Excel templates for the organization of biological or environmental samples, occurrence data and molecular sequence data can be found in the GFBio collection of recommended data submission templates
Our collaborating archives and data centers ensure the required long term storage and archiving of your (publication) data. We support you choosing the best suited archive for your data and offer custom workflows for submission (see Data Submission).
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Preserve
During proposal writing and creating a data management plan, you might want to check the status quo for the availability of data of your study object or site - or you have already collected data and would like to incorporate data from other authors, regions, species etcetera. There are loads of reasons to search for data. GFBio integrates data from a range of associated data centers. Use our search engine to discover data from various sources and filter with regard to author, publication year or geographical region.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Discover
Addressing biodiversity research questions often depends upon the integration of different data types at varying spatial and temporal resolutions with diverse formats. GFBio developed a Visualization, Analysis & Transformation System (VAT) that enables the synthesis of heterogeneous spatio-temporal data sets, and provides added value services via a GIS-based interface for researchers.
Once your data has been integrated, it can be statistically explored through visualization, overlay, transformation, statistical analysis or modelling.
GFBio also supports the handling of large datasets, resulting from data integration. Our collaborating archives and data centers offer special services focusing on the varying disciplines and data types.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Integrate
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Analyze
Making your data publicly available is good scientific practice. We offer assistance in managing your research data and we provide special support in managing your data related to publications. You get a Persistent Identifier (e.g. DOI) for making your data citable and linkable to publications which is increasingly demanded by journals and which improves your citation impact.
Data Life Cycle Fact Sheet: Publish
The GFBio Terminology Service is a core part of the GFBio infrastructure and allows users to share various kinds of terminologies – ranging from simple controlled vocabularies to complex ontologies – with other researchers. The Terminology Service is provided through a public API (Application Programming Interface), that relies on common standards for Semantic Web Technologies and provides users with a machine-readable access to terms, concepts and their relations for a variety of biodiversity related data.
Have a look at the GFBio Terminology Service webpage.
GFBio provides courses and training material in the field of data management. We offer customized training for scientists such as graduate courses or training for curators and data managers. You can find educational modules and training resources on our website.
Contact our experts for more information.
Data management requires expertise and technical infrastructure which, in most cases, is not for free. Therefore, good management also comprises cost assessment. Most funders demand an estimation of the costs for data management as a part of the project proposal. Furthermore, data management cost estimation should always be considered in a DMP. GFBio supports you estimating the costs for your data management aspects.
Contact our experts for data management cost estimation support.
Meet GFBio and learn about our services!
To support researchers in meeting current challenges in data management, we are conducting on-site roadshows for individual researchers and working groups. We present the essentials of research data management and introduce the GFBio services. Additionally, you can test existing and upcoming GFBio tools. The roadshows usually take about two hours.
Your opinion is valuable! Share your experiences, challenges, and thoughts on data management with us by participating in a roadshow! In doing so, you can actively contribute to the improvement of our services.
The roadshows are free of charge.
If you and your working group are interested in a visit from us, contact us. We are happy to hear from you!