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RDM Terminology

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The CODATA RDM Terminology (RDMT): latest news

  • Thank you to all who indicated interest in joining the 2025 review cycle.  Applications for membership of the Research Data Management Terminology (RDMT) Working Group 2025 closed in December 2024 and the review cycle is currently underway.

 

The RDM Terminology WG: our aim

The aim of the WG is to create a stable and sustainably-governed standard terminology of community-accepted terms and definitions for concepts relevant to research data management, and to keep this terminology relevant by maintaining it as a ‘living document’ that is updated regularly.  To that end, the RDM Terminology Working Group uses a lightweight and pragmatic biennial process to review the current terminology and suggest any edits, additions and removals that are required in order to develop and improve this important reference resource.

The terminology is not an attempt to list every concept, tool and standard relevant to RDM; rather, it focuses on terms without easily found authoritative definitions elsewhere, and offers their definition in the context of contemporary RDM.

RDMT Scope Statement

“The goal of this terminology is to gather the key terms needed for a common understanding of the research data management domain.

Research data management (RDM) refers to the storage, access and preservation of data created or collected in the course of research. Research data management practices cover the entire lifecycle of the data, from planning the investigation to conducting it, and from backing up data as it is created and used to long term preservation of data deliverables after the research investigation has concluded.

Definitions are intended to be clear and unambiguous, and where possible, fit with common usage. Definitions should be apposite across research data management activities of key stakeholders, including those working on research data management within the context of research, data management, digital curation and preservation, research management, research policy, open data advocacy, computer science, information management, research administration, library, scholarly publishing, digital archiving and research funding roles. Some terms may have more than one definition, in which case the relevant context should be specified.

If a consensus definition can be easily found elsewhere, the term is out of scope. This terminology is limited to the specific concepts necessary for a common understanding of RDM.

This scope statement was revised and approved by the 2021-22 RDM Terminology WG, and published in 2023.”

Some practical points to note

WG members will choose the terms they wish to review and will have a set amount of time to do so.  Not all terms need to be reviewed every year.  Members will report – for each term that they review – whether they wish to

  • accept the term and its definition in its current form;
  • edit it (and specify the proposed edits);
  • or remove it.

Further, any additions of terms that are felt to be currently missing can also be proposed.  Once all our changes are agreed across the WG, we’ll open the new and revised terms for a set period to the public for review, then close that version of the terminology for the year.

WG members will be recruited afresh each review year.  Participation is for one cycle at a time only, to encourage a regularly renewed diversity of viewpoints.  Ongoing membership of the WG for further years will require a fresh application each review year.  Applicants will be selected to support diversity of gender, professional role/sector, and geographic region.  The WG will be conducted in English.  Participants should be comfortable working independently and in a collaborative, working group environment and have a good knowledge of research data management as a practical and / or theoretical field, but you do not need to be a senior manager or researcher to participate: we welcome varied levels of experience.  All WG members agree to read and abide by the terms of the CODATA Code of Conduct in calls, videoconferences and in-person meetings. Applications from under-represented groups are particularly welcome. We will work as much as possible asynchronously in order to minimise awkward meeting times for international participants, and calls will be timed as considerately as possible for the majority of participants.

Who is involved in the most recent review cycle?

The 2025 review cycle runs from February to summer 2025, and has the following membership:

Fathima Musfira Ameer (South Eastern University, Sri Lanka), Stuart Chalk (University of North Florida, USA), Antony Cooper (CSIR, South Africa), Anusuriya Devaraju (CSIRO, Australia), Jindrich Fejfar (Library of Czech Academy of Sciences), Maggie Hellström (ICOS Carbon Portal data centre at Lund University, Sweden), Jessica Hrudey (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Carolynne Hultquist (University of Canterbury, NZ), Aenne Loehden (German Climate Computing Center), Pete McQuilton (independent expert, UK), Yasuyuki Minamiyama (National Institute of Informatics, Japan), Joel Minion (University of Alberta, Canada), Mikala Narlock (Data Curation Network, USA), Christianah Titilope Oyewale (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Laurisa Sastoque Pabon (University of Southampton, UK), Hilary Shiue (Academica Sinica, Taipei), Juliane Schneider (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA), Sarah White (CLOSER/UCL, UK), Katie Yates (STFC / UKRI, UK), Laura Molloy (CODATA, convenor).

Who was involved in previous review cycles?

The 2021-22 review cycle ran from autumn 2021 to summer 2022, and had the following membership:

Sharon McMeekin (Digital Preservation Coalition); Joanne Fitzpatrick (Lancaster University); Maria Praetzellis (California Digital Library); Ryan O’Connor (Digital Curation Centre); Mary Donaldson (University of Glasgow); Evy Neyens (Hasselt University); Tatiana Zaraiskaya (University of New Brunswick); Catherine Jones (Science and Technology Facilities Council UK); Jennifer Harris (Open Data Services Cooperative); Anup Kumar Das (Jawaharlal Nehru University); Helen Cooper (University of Kent); Antony Cooper (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research South Africa); Sridhar Gutam (ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research); Asha Law (CODATA); Rebecca Oldroyd (University College London); Nici Pfeiffer (Centre for Open Science); Laura Molloy (CODATA, convenor).

Any questions?

For more information on the terminology and our plans to take it forward, check out this short presentation video (from April 2021).

The CASRAI Research Data Management terminology was intended as a practical reference for individuals and groups concerned with the improvement of research data management (RDM).  In 2020, CASRAI requested that CODATA assume responsibility for the curation of this valued resource.  Find out more about the new locations of ex-CASRAI assets here.

For any specific questions, including to indicate interest in translating the terminology into another language, please contact the WG convenor at laura AT codata.org.  Thank you!

 

Page last updated: 2025-03-19.