Research data management for low-temperature plasma science

With the development of the plasma metadata schema Plasma-MDS, the low-temperature plasma (LTP) community initiated developments towards structured research data management (RDM) and measures to implement the FAIR data principles in the scientific community. This website provides information on activities and events relating to RDM for LTP science, which are currently being coordinated by the department Plasma Modelling and Data Science at Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP), the INF project of the CRC 1316 at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the working group Experimental Plasma Physics at the Kiel University (CAU).

RDM at the coordinating institutions

The department Plasma Modelling and Data Science at Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) operates the data platform INPTDAT for the publication and re-use of research data. On the one hand, this takes into account the requirements of publishers and research funders with regard to the publication of research data, and on the other hand, it supports the visibility and transparency of research in the sense of open science. Mechanisms for quality assurance of research data are implemented on the basis of digital RDM workflows incorporating electronic laboratory notebooks, ontologies and knowledge graphs.

The Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1316 is adapted to the basic research data infrastructure of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and, thus, ensures appropriate storage and technical availability of digital research data. Research data can be published in the repository of the research department plasmas with complex interactions (RDPCI): rdpcidat.rub.de. The groups of the CRC 1316 appoint a data steward who advises the scientists on entering data and metadata into the repository. The CRC 1316 participates in the further development of the metadata standards in coordination with the other plasma physics locations.

The research group Experimental Plasma Physics at Kiel University is actively working on the improvement of the local data management infrastructure and is preparing for the FAIR data handling in coordination with local research data programs and with other research partners in Germany. The local IT services of the university are, for example, providing the infrastructure and support for the electronic lab notebook eLabFTW, while the research group equips the laboratories with resources for the implementation. Additionally, Kiel researchers are participating in the further development of metadata standards in plasma physics.

Community activities

The activities include monthly web meetings on the further development and application of Plasma-MDS and annual workshops for the international community. Everyone is invited to get involved in the initiative and benefit for their own research. Subscribe to the Plasma-MDS mailing list to stay informed about the activities.

Plasma metadata schema

The plasma metadata schema (Plasma-MDS) aims to support the standardized documentation of research data in the field of plasma physics. In accordance with typical plasma processes and applications, the schema contains metadata fields to collect annotations about plasma source, plasma medium, and plasma target. Furthermore, metadata for the respectively applied diagnostic and modelling/simulation methods are collected. Finally, resource metadata fields are included to describe the individual digital objects belonging to the dataset.

Plasma-MDS supports research data management in accordance with the FAIR data principles. So far, it is used by the INterdisciplinary Plasma Technology Data Platform INPTDAT (www.inptdat.de) and the research data repository of the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions at Ruhr Universität Bochum (rdpcidat.rub.de).

GitHub repositories

The Plasma-MDS GitHub organization hosts several code repositories with related open-source developments. For example, the Plasma-MDS repository is intended to provide a way for collaborative advancement of the metadata schema by the community. This will also provide a basis for a community-driven extension of the plasma knowledge graph, which is currently under development.

Open data platforms using Plasma-MDS

www.inptdat.de
rdpcidat.rub.de

Research data management tools

The use of metadata schemas for structured documentation of research data is supported by practical tools, which can be integrated into the research workflows. Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) can play an important role in this regard. The following software tools are in the focus of the Plasma-MDS initiative.

eLabFTW is a free and open source electronic lab notebook. Installations of eLabFTW are already running in research groups at RUB, CAU and INP. Access can be gained via local contacts.

Adamant is a JSON schema-based metadata creation tool for various research data management workflows. It is developed and supported by INP and can be operated in addition to eLabFTW for schema-based metadata collection.

Publications

Collaboration on RDM in low-temperature plasma physics, talk at the DPG conference 2024 in Greifswald.

What does data stewardship mean in physics?, H. Israel, M. M. Becker, Bausteine Forschungsdatenmanagement 2, 1-13 (2023).

Research data management in plasma science, poster at the DPG conference 2023 in Dresden.

Towards implementation of the FAIR principles in plasma science, poster at DPG conference 2022 in Mainz.

Plasma-MDS, a metadata schema for plasma science with examples from plasma technology, St. Franke et al., Sci. Data 7, 439 (2020).

Find more open-access content in the Plasma-MDS Zenodo community.