Development of an Integrated Lifecycle of RDM Tools: Looking Back and Forward at KU Leuven

Abstract

After the creation of an institutional research data management (RDM) policy some years ago, KU Leuven decided it was crucial to create an ecosystem of RDM tools for the entire RDM life cycle to enable KU Leuven researchers to manage their data well and in a FAIR way. In 2018, KU Leuven started on the road to an institutional data repository, which resulted in the launch of the Dataverse-based Research Data Repository (RDR) in January 2022. In line with this, there was a strong focus on tools to manage data in a structured and metadata-rich way during the research project, when data was still being worked on. Based on this, an Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) instance that would enable easy and integrated metadata management from the start of a research project via a self-developed portal was launched in March 2023 under the name “ManGO,” which is a shortened version of MANagement van Gegevens voor Onderzoek. Because one of the four FAIR principles is interoperability, and to fully enable FAIR data management, it was important to facilitate this interoperability of data by ensuring that KU Leuven RDM tools are interoperable, with a first focus being the connection between ManGO and RDR to select and copy data ready for publication. As with ManGO, RDR, the integration work, and other RDM developments made or adapted at KU Leuven, all relevant work will continue to be shared in open source where possible to ensure that investments that the university makes in RDM tool development can be used by and are accessible to other institutions.