Team e-Science-Service Research Data Management at the University of Siegen
The e-Science Service team, a joint initiative of the University Library (UB) and the Center for Information and Media Technology (ZIMT), helps you to manage your Research Data Management in accordance with good scientific practice, the FAIR principles and Open Science (DE) principles.
Our service
We support you throughout the entire data life cycle - from planning, collection and documentation to archiving and publication.
We offer you comprehensive, individual advice, courses and technical support, e.g. on:
- basics and RDM standards such as metadata and persistent identifiers
- data management plans (RDMO)
- data storage
- data organization
- data archiving
- data publication
- subject-specific repositories and the university's own repository (FoDaSi)
Please contact us by e-mail: e-science-service@uni-siegen.de
What is...
Research data
is all (digital) data generated in the course of a scientific project, e.g. through source research, experiments, measurements, surveys or interviews.
Research Data Management (RDM)
is the systematic handling of research data throughout the entire data life cycle. This spans from collection, analysis, (further) processing to archiving and, if necessary, publication of the data.
Current: Information on securing endangered research data in NRW
In response to global political developments and their impact on the storage of research data, the DFG published the "Funding initiative for securing endangered data stocks and data resilience 2025 - 2027" at the end of October 2025. In North Rhine-Westphalia, we already have interlocking infrastructures that can be used in the event of a data backup.
The state initiative fdm.nrw has set up a central contact point in consultation with the participating infrastructures, which researchers can use to get in touch about further steps for securing endangered data, e.g. from abroad.
All essential information is summarized in the following document. Please forward this information within the university to relevant stakeholders, e.g. researchers or colleagues who work with endangered data.
All about Research Data Management
To support you in your scientific work, we offer access and support for various topics and tools.
In order to ensure efficient collaboration, reproducibility and reusability of data, research data should be documented in a comprehensible way and provided with clear folder structures and standardized file names.
In addition to a simple README file or a codebook that explains methods and context, data management plans and electronic lab notebooks (DE) can also be suitable tools to supplement your datasets and make them comprehensible.
In addition, use metadata standards (DE) of your discipline to ensure findability, comparability and reuse.
Before you start I - DFG checklist
The German Research Foundation (German: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, abbr. DFG) expects reliable, transparent information on Research Data Management in the proposal and provides a checklist that should definitely be used.
Data management plan (DMP) with RDMO
Creating a data management plan with the Research Data Management Organizer (RDMO) of the University of Siegen.
Managing data with Coscine
The platform allows you to organize, store, add metadata and archive your data across multiple locations.
Coscine
Coscine is a platform specializing in Research Data Management. The platform enables you to store data, add metadata to it and archive it.
Especially in collaborative projects, Coscine promotes cross-location collaboration by enabling several researchers from different institutions to access and edit the data together. Role and access settings are also possible.
The data is stored on servers in Germany. The platform also backs up versions of the data and stores them for up to 10 years after the end of the project.
GitLab
GitLab is a web-based platform for version control and project management. GitLab can be used to manage, save and version files in projects.
You can edit code, scripts or texts together, document changes in a traceable manner and restore older editing statuses at any time.
GitLab offers numerous functions to help you organize your research project: These include an integrated wiki for documentation, a shared storage location with versioning (so-called Git repository), the option of access control and role allocation as well as a ticket system with which tasks can be clearly planned and tracked in Kanban boards, for example.
Open Science Framework (OSF)
The Open Science Framework (OSF) is an open source platform to support the entire research data lifecycle.
It is used to organize scientific projects on which you can centrally collect, structure and manage all components of your research project - from initial hypotheses to data management plans, the research data itself, to analyses, elaborations and publications. It also offers a wiki for notes, comment areas and task lists.
The platform supports location-independent collaboration through version control and differentiated role and access settings.
Project data is stored on servers in Germany and can be specifically released with usage licenses. External services such as repositories or GitLab can also be integrated to efficiently manage large volumes of data. When a project is published, you receive a DOI for long-term referencing.
FoDaSi
FoDaSi offers the possibility to store research data in the university's own management system for the long term and to make it freely available in accordance with the FAIR principles (see also Publishing and archiving data).
Scientific Computing (HPC)
ZIMT operates the OMNI cluster and other computing systems to enable scientists at the University of Siegen to perform scientific computing.
Storage services
ZIMT provides a central infrastructure for file-based storage services.
Cloud
Sciebo is a non-commercial, state-wide (NRW) cloud storage service for research, studies and teaching, operated by universities for universities, to securely synchronize, store and collaboratively share files, with a focus on data security through storage in North Rhine-Westfalia.
Data can provide valuable impetus not only for your own research, but also for new projects.
Publishing your data sets in a repository ensures the visibility, traceability, reproducibility and reusability of your data. Published research data is recognized as an independent publication.
Data can also be archived via repositories.
FoDaSi
FoDaSi offers the possibility of not only storing research data in the university's own management system in the long term, but also making it freely available in accordance with the FAIR principles.
Repositories and search services for repositories
Find subject-specific and interdisciplinary repositories as well as search services for repositories for the long-term archiving of research data under the following link:
