@misc{PUB-0005,
  title = {{Exploiting Curated, Domain-Specific Repositories to Facilitate Globally Interoperable Databases: the GEOROC Use-Case for Global Geochemical Data}},
  author = {Klöcking, M. and Sturm, A. and Sarbas, B. and Kallas, L. and Möller-McNett, S. and Nieschulze, J. and Lehnert, K. and Elger, K. and Horstmann, W. and Kurzawe, D. and Willbold, M. and Wörner, G.},
  year = {2023},
  doi = {10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13223},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13223},
  abstract = {The GEOROC database is a leading, open-access source of geochemical and isotopic datasets of
igneous and metamorphic rocks and minerals. It was established 24 years ago and currently
provides access to curated compilations of rock and mineral compositions from >20,600
publications (>32 million single data values). The Digital Geochemical Data Infrastructure
(DIGIS) initiative for GEOROC 2.0 is now building a connected platform capable of supporting
the diverse demands of digital, data-based geochemical research: including modern solutions to
data submission, discovery and access.One of the challenges for maintaining a high quality,
up-to-date database such as GEOROC is consistent data entry. Historically, data were compiled
manually from the academic literature by trained curators. This manual data entry process is
slow, resource-intensive and prone to errors. Exacerbated by the lack of best-practices or
standards for analytical geochemical data reporting, the quality and completeness of data and
metadata compiled in this way are highly variable. A possible solution to this challenge is
offered by domain-specific repositories: in part driven by demands of some funders and
publishers to make all research data publicly available, data producers increasingly publish
their research datasets, affording repositories a unique opportunity to impose consistent
standards and quality. Following these developments, DIGIS established a domain repository
with DOI minting capabilities in 2021 to support independent data submission by authors. In
principle, these data submissions may comprise new analytical results as well as compilations
of previously published data (“expert datasets”). DIGIS also uses its repository for
versioning of the GEOROC data compilations and to provide distinct, citable objects to the
researchers that use GEOROC compilations for their work (so-called “precompiled files”, a
collection of pre-formatted results of the most popular search queries to the GEOROC database
are regularly updated and re-published). However, whilst all data submissions by authors are
required to fulfill the scope of the GEOROC database, new analytical data need to meet
additional quality requirements: the repository enforces a strict template to ensure
consistent reporting of all relevant sample and method/analysis metadata. These templates can
then be automatically harvested from the repository directly into the GEOROC database, with
the added guarantee that new data entries are a) approved by the owners of the datasets, and
b) follow a consistent data reporting and quality standard.To encourage user uptake of both
the repository and the compilations available in the GEOROC database, DIGIS is working closely
with IEDA2 and EarthChem towards developing a common infrastructure for geochemical data. One
goal of this collaboration is a single repository submission platform that asserts the same
requirements for data and metadata quality of submitted datasets. In addition, DIGIS has also
partnered with GFZ Data Services as their trusted domain repository. Finally, through the
OneGeochemistry initiative, all three partners are working towards global community-endorsed
best practices for geochemical data publication. Ultimately, these efforts will facilitate
greater interoperability between globally distributed geochemical data systems, enabling more
user-friendly delivery of data publication and compilation services to the research community.},
  note = {Klöcking, M., Sturm, A., Sarbas, B., Kallas, L., Möller-McNett, S., Nieschulze, J., Lehnert, K., Elger, K., Horstmann, W., Kurzawe, D., Willbold, M., \& Wörner, G. (2023). Exploiting Curated, Domain-Specific Repositories to Facilitate Globally Interoperable Databases: the GEOROC Use-Case for Global Geochemical Data. EGU General Assembly 2023, EGU23-13223.}
}