Research Community-Specific Metadata Standards

Many research communities have developed their own metadata standards for specific data types. The metadata standards included in this guidance are not intended to replace any existing research community-specific metadata standards, but rather to supplement with some additional metadata. Use of existing research community-specific metadata standards can greatly contribute the findability and usability of your data for your research community. If you are not aware whether there are metadata standards already established within your research community, it may be useful to determine whether these exist and to implement them before submitting your data to a repository.

This page includes some guidance on existing research community-specific metadata standards that may be applicable to HEAL investigators. Given the wide range of research communities involved in HEAL-funded studies, this is not a comprehensive list. Additionally, some research communities have not yet reached consensus on metadata standards.

General resources

• The Data Curation Network has put together a series of data primers that include information on data curation for multiple different study and data types. This includes some research community-specific standards as well as best practices for some general data types. This includes guidance on:
  • CARE Data Principles (data involving indigenous peoples, interests, lands, environments, resources, territories, traditions, cultures, archives, and histories)
  • Clinical Trials data, human participants data, consent forms
  • Genetic data
  • Neuroimaging
  • Confocal microscopy
  • Mass spectrometry
  • Qualitative data
  • Audiovisual data
  • Program-specific standards, including Excel, Python, Jupyter Notebook, R, SAS, SPSS, NVivo, Atlas.ti

• Metadata Resources from the NIH HEAL Data Stewardship Group

Research community-specific resources

Clinical trials:

• Clinical trial reporting requirements
  • Protocol registration data element definitions for interventional and observational studies

Survey and social science data:

• Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) metadata standards

Neuroimaging data:

• Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS)

Neurophysiology data:

• Neurodata Without Borders (NWB)

Genomic and sequencing data:

• Minimal Information about a high throughput SEQuencing Experiment (MINSEQ)
• MIxS (Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence), which includes:
  • MIGS: Minimum information about a genome sequence
  • MIMS: Minimum information about a metagenome sequence
  • MIMARKS: Minimum information about a marker gene sequence
  • MISAG: Minimum information about a single amplified genome sequence
  • MIMAG: Minimum information about a metagenome-assembled genome sequence
  • MIUViG: Minimum information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome
• Sequence Read Archive BioSample packages, which contains a wide range of metadata templates including required associated metadata for submission to SRA; includes metadata templates for different sequence types under MIG, MIMARKS, MIMAG, MISTAG, MIMS, MIUViG, and pathogens.