Enhancing Metadata Standards: The Impact of OSCARS on Photon and Neutron Science

Abstract

The OSCARS project brings together world-class European Research Infrastructures (RIs) in the ESFRI roadmap and beyond to foster the uptake of Open Science in Europe. The OSCARS project underscores the critical role of persistent identifiers (PIDs) in ensuring the findability, accessibility, interoperable, and reusability (FAIR) of research data. By assigning globally unique and persistent identifiers to datasets, OSCARS enhances their long-term utility, enabling researchers to reproducibly verify existing work or leverage data for novel applications. The project’s activities are centered on consolidation, composability, and community engagement, with a focus on the Photon and Neutron (PaN) Open Science Cluster (PaNOSC). Through an in-depth analysis of existing community services, OSCARS has mapped the current landscape and identified typical research workflows within the PaN community. Our aim is to seamlessly integrate these services, fostering interoperability while introducing novel functionalities beyond their original scope; particularly in metadata enrichment and PID assignment for large research infrastructures (RIs). A key initiative involves expanding PID adoption for beamlines and experimental techniques. While instrument PIDs (PIDINST) are already assigned to diverse instruments, beamline PIDs remain an evolving area, particularly regarding the creation of persistent landing pages with standardized metadata. To address this, we are exploring Unified Data Sheets: web-based overviews on technical details of the DESY beamline setup, which are well aligned with the Ways for Light initiative. In collaboration with other facilities, we are exploring to separate the representation (as a webpage) and the underlying data (into a database) in order to streamline updates for beamline staff and user offices, ensuring consistency across multiple services, including: Beamline webpages, DOI services, Ways for Light metadata, and other interconnected platforms. Additionally, OSCARS has enhanced the Photon and Neutron Experimental Techniques ontology (PaNET), particularly to better serve the neutron science community. This ontology enables targeted applications, such as the beamline finder tool demonstrated for PETRA III’s synchrotron, which helps users match beamlines to their experimental needs by querying available techniques. By integrating technique-specific metadata into datasets, PaNET improves data discoverability while also enabling automated, technique-tailored metadata schemas during measurements. This ensures that captured metadata is precise, relevant, and aligned with domain-specific standards, ultimately elevating data quality and usability. In summary, OSCARS advances metadata interoperability and PID standardization within the PaN community, fostering a FAIR-aligned infrastructure that supports reproducible, collaborative, and innovative research.