The mission of Coscine is to provide a generic platform for German researchers and their collaboration partners to access storage resources, jointly work on datasets online in research projects, and retain datasets for up to ten years after the end of the project. We promote high quality research by fostering the FAIR-Principles for discovering and accessing data during the active project phase through the implementation of the FAIR Digital Object concept. With a central search index Coscine enables discovery and re-use of data. Consequently, the integrated assignment of administrative, bibliographic and discipline specific metadata and PIDs facilitates subsequent interpretation, long-term preservation and finally publication in suitable repositories. Part of our mission is also a sound and comprehensive service management including consulting and training of RDM staff to ensure that researchers receive the best possible Coscine support at their respective home organizations.
The platform Coscine is developed, hosted, and managed at the IT Center of RWTH Aachen University. As part of the Coscine.nrw project, it was established as a permanent service offering, making Coscine available to all DH.NRW universities financed by the Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (MKW) of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Coscine’s scope of features and support structure contributes to the overall mission of DH.NRW in the field of research data management by creating an infrastructure in which good handling of research data in accordance with FAIR principles can be practiced easily, securely and profitably for scientists 1. This mission is also reflected in the related “Digital Ecosystem DH.NRW - State Concept RDM” 2. Furthermore, Coscine is being developed within the mission framework of NFDI consortia, which are oriented towards the goals of establishing and further developing comprehensive research data management and increasing the efficiency of the entire scientific system 3.
