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Terms and conditions for the Coscine community competition

1. Organizer

The competition is organized and carried out by the Coscine team at RWTH Aachen University. The aim of the competition is to encourage researchers to actively shape the platform by contributing their own community features.

2. Eligibility

The competition is open to anyone who uses Coscine and would like to contribute to the further development of the platform. This includes:

  • Researchers (from all disciplines),
  • Employees of scientific institutions,
  • Project partners and external users of Coscine.

Participation is free of charge.

3. Competition period

The competition starts on February 10, 2025 and ends on May 10, 2025. Contributions received after the deadline will not be considered.

4. Submission requirements

Participants can submit a community feature that offers added value to other Coscine users.

Examples of possible contributions:

  • automation scripts (e.g. with Python),
  • workflows for platform use (e.g. best practices for research groups),
  • research use cases (e.g. interfaces to other tools).

5. Contribution Submission

Contributions can be submitted either via:

For a submission via GitLab, compliance with the Contributing Guidelines is mandatory.

6. Selection process and evaluation

After the deadline, the Coscine team will review and evaluate all contributions. The winners will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Level of innovation – Is the feature a new, useful addition to Coscine?
  • Added value for the community – Can it be used by many researchers?
  • Usability & implementation – Is the feature easy to understand and use?
  • Documentation – Is the feature well described and comprehensible?

The three best contributions will be awarded!

7. Prizes and announcement of the winners

1st place: hoodie, mug, lunch box, ballpoint pen, notepad, sticker, patch 2nd place: mug, ballpoint pen, notepad, sticker, patch 3rd place: ballpoint pen, notepad, sticker, patch

The winners will be notified via GitLab or email by June 1, 2025 at the latest.

8. Rights of use and publication

By participating, entrants agree that their contribution may be made available to the Coscine community under an open license (e.g. CC BY 4.0 or MIT) and that we may contact them via GitLab and/or email in the event of a win.

This means:

  • The contribution can be reused and improved by other researchers.
  • The submitters will be named as the authors.
  • The submitters retain the right to use or further develop their feature outside of Coscine.

9. Data protection

No personal data will be collected as part of the competition.

10. Miscellaneous information

  • If your feature uses external software or services, please make sure that this is permissible under license law.
  • There is no right of appeal.
  • The Coscine team reserves the right to end or change the competition prematurely if unforeseen circumstances arise.