Towards a Quality Indicator for Research Data publications and Research Software publications -- A vision from the Helmholtz Association

TL;DR

This paper discusses developing a quality indicator for research data and software publications within the Helmholtz Association, aiming to establish a standardized evaluation process inspired by existing quality frameworks.

Contribution

It introduces a vision and initial approach for a comprehensive quality indicator for research data and software, integrating principles like FAIR and COBIT.

Findings

Proposes a conceptual framework for quality assessment

Utilizes FAIR Principles and COBIT Maturity Model

Aims to facilitate standardized evaluation of research outputs

Abstract

Research data and software are widely accepted as an outcome of scientific work. However, in comparison to text-based publications, there is not yet an established process to assess and evaluate quality of research data and research software publications. This paper presents an attempt to fill this gap. Initiated by the Working Group Open Science of the Helmholtz Association the Task Group Helmholtz Quality Indicators for Data and Software Publications currently develops a quality indicator for research data and research software publications to be used within the Association. This report summarizes the vision of the group of what all contributes to such an indicator. The proposed approach relies on generic well-established concepts for quality criteria, such as the FAIR Principles and the COBIT Maturity Model. It does - on purpose - not limit itself to technical implementation possibilities to avoid using an existing metric for a new purpose. The intention of this paper is to share the current state for further discussion with all stakeholders, particularly with other groups also working on similar metrics but also with entities that use the metrics.