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Resource Creation

To add resources in Coscine, click the Add Resource button on the project’s home page (see Figure 1). Then follow these four steps:

  1. Define resource configurations
  2. Select metadata profile
  3. Enter resource metadata
  4. Overview & Confirmation

Website dashboard with options for adding resources and sub-projects. Users can manage projects and add a project or a resource.

Figure 1 – 'Add resource' button on the project dashboard

The items marked with a red asterisk (*) in the forms below are mandatory.

Step 1: Resource configuration

Select a resource type (see Figure 2). Depending on the resource type you choose, a certain amount of storage capacity is available to you per project (quota). If no storage is available here, you must first request storage capacity for your project and the relevant resource type (see Storage Management).

Confirm your selection by clicking the Next button.

A page for adding a resource, where you must select the resource type. Further steps include selecting a metadata profile and entering resource data.

Figure 2 – Step 1: `Resource configuration`

Step 2: Metadata profile

In this step, you select a metadata profile, customise the fields and define default variables. These two customisation options often make it possible to adapt a metadata profile that does not fit perfectly to the specific needs of the project.

Select a metadata profile

Select a metadata profile for the resource. This determines how you describe your research data and is crucial for ensuring that your data is understandable (e.g. to collaboration partners and to yourself). You have the option of using an existing metadata profile or creating a custom one:

  • Recommendation: Reuse a metadata profile: You can use the drop-down menu to view the metadata profiles currently available. These include generic metadata profiles (e.g. RADAR and the base profile), subject-specific profiles (e.g. Engmeta for engineering data and the NFDI-Matwerk base profile for materials science data), as well as research group-specific metadata profiles. Further information on this can be found under Metadata and metadata profiles.
  • Creating a metadata profile: If none of the available metadata profiles are suitable for your use case, you can use the Create button to navigate to the Metadata Profile Generator and use it to create a metadata profile tailored to your needs. Please note, however, that creating and approving a new metadata profile can take up to four weeks. Until then, you will not be able to create any resources using this profile.

Page for selecting a metadata profile for a resource. The user is prompted to select a profile, as this cannot be changed once it has been assigned.

Figure 3 - Step 2: `Metadata profile`

Customise fields

Once you have selected a metadata profile, the corresponding form will be displayed. You can now customise the metadata profile using the three icons to the right of the fields and the default variables, thereby tailoring it further to your project-specific requirements (see Figure 4).

Warning: The metadata form is a preview

In this step, you do not need to fill in all the fields marked with an asterisk. The metadata form is displayed here exactly as it will be used later when you upload your data. This means that the mandatory fields (those marked with an asterisk) will only become active at that stage. Please enter only the default values here that are to be assigned to each file (see below).

Screenshot of the ‘Add resource’ form in Coscine, showing the step for selecting or creating a new metadata profile.

Figure 4 – Step 3: Customising the metadata profile

The customisation options are determined by the creators of the relevant metadata profile. If, for example, they do not allow a default value to be set, this field is greyed out and cannot be used.

Icon/Default-Variable Customisation options
Image Click the padlock icon to set default values. If you tick this box, all files you upload will automatically be assigned this fixed metadata value (e.g. a designated contact person or the date on which all files for this resource were generated). First enter the value, then click the padlock icon to save it.
Image Click on the eye icon to hide metadata fields. If individual fields do not correspond to the data you wish to save, you can hide optional fields in this way. Mandatory fields can only be hidden if a default value has been specified.
Image Clicking on the plus icon allows you to duplicate a metadata field. If, for example, you need to enter multiple authors, you can use this to add further fields as required. This makes your metadata more machine-readable than entering multiple authors into a single metadata field.
{ME} This default variable is always replaced with your name when the metadata is saved. In other words: the person editing the metadata.
{TODAY} This default variable is always replaced by the current date when the metadata is saved.

Step 3: Metadata

In the third step, enter the metadata for the resource. The following table provides an overview of the metadata fields requested and their descriptions (see also Figure 5).

Field Description
Resource Name* Resource name (max. 200 characters)
Display Name* Short title of the resource (max. 25 characters)
Resource Description* A brief and informative description of the resource’s content (max. 10,000 characters)
Discipline* Scientific discipline to which the resource belongs, according to the DFG classification. Multiple selections are permitted. The disciplines associated with the project are preselected, but these can be changed.
Resource Keywords Keywords to help categorise the resource. If you make the metadata publicly available, these keywords will make it easier to find.
Metadata Visibility* Projects and resources can be marked as public. This means that their metadata can be found not only by Coscine users, but also via a public knowledge graph. The visibility of metadata for projects and resources is independent of one another. Access to projects and resources can be requested by other researchers. The table below provides a clear overview of the different visibility settings.
Licence Licence for the data contained in the resource, e.g. Creative Commons licences (CC licences – for further information, see forschungsdaten.info)
Internal Rules for Reuse Individual usage rights for the data contained in the resource, e.g. ‘May only be used by my organisation’ (max. 200 characters)

Screenshot of the Coscine portal while creating a resource: form fields for name, description, discipline, licence and visibility.

Figure 5 – Step 3: Resource metadata
Visibility of a resource’s metadata Project Resource Can the resource’s metadata be found? Description
Public Project Members Public Yes The resource’s metadata can be searched publicly, even if the project is only visible to project members.
Public Public Yes The metadata for the project and the resource can be searched publicly.
Project Members Public Project Members No The resource’s metadata is private and visible only to project members, even if the project’s metadata is publicly searchable.
Project Members Project Members No The resource’s metadata is visible only to project members.

Step 4: Overview & Confirmation

Check and confirm your details (see Figure 5). Click Edit to return to the previous step and adjust the metadata. Click Confirm to save the information; the resource will then appear in the relevant project. The resources are automatically sorted and displayed in alphabetical order by resource name.

A complete overview is provided in Step 4 under the

Figure 6 – Step 4: Overview & Confirmation