On the Communication of Scientific Results: The Full-Metadata Format

In this paper, we introduce a scientific format for text-based data files, which facilitates storing and communicating tabular data sets. The so-called Full-Metadata Format builds on the widely used INI-standard and is based on four principles: readable self-documentation, flexible structure, fail-safe compatibility, and searchability. As a consequence, all metadata required to interpret the tabular data are stored in the same file, allowing for the automated generation of publication-ready tables and graphs and the semantic searchability of data file collections. The Full-Metadata Format is introduced on the basis of three comprehensive examples. The complete format and syntax is given in the appendix

A Proposal on Using Reuse Readiness Levels to Measure Software Reusability

The use of scientific data is becoming increasingly dependent on the software that fosters such use. As the ability to reuse software contributes to capabilities for reusing software-dependent data, instruments for measuring software reusability contribute to the reuse of software and related data. The development and current state of a proposed set of Reuse Readiness Levels (RRLs) are summarized, and potential uses of the software reusability measures are described, along with proposed use cases to support sponsorship of software projects, software production, software adoption, and data stewardship during the systems development lifecycle and the data lifecycle