The relevance of research data today and for the future is well documented and discussed, in Germany as well as internationally. Ensuring that research data are accessible, sharable, and re-usable over time is increasingly becoming an essential task for researchers and research infrastructure institutions. Some reasons for this development include the following:
- research data are documented and could therefore be validated
- research data could be the basis for new research questions
- research data could be re-analyzed by using innovative digital methods
- research data could be used by other disciplines
Therefore, it is essential that research data are curated, which means they are kept accessible and interpretable over time.
In Germany, a baseline study was undertaken analyzing the situation in eleven research disciplines in 2012. The results were then published in a German-language edition. To address an international audience, the German-language edition of the study has been translated and abridged
