DataPLANT was involved in the creation of the statement on the key points paper of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on the Research Data Act. The consortium welcomes the objectives outlined in the BMBF key points paper on the Research Data Act (FDG) to improve access to scientific data in general. To this end, the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) consortium adopted a statement on April 12, 2024.
Improving the discoverability of research data through an online platform fueled by metadata catalogs can be seen as a direct implementation of the "Findability" principle demanded in the FAIR Principles and thus aligns with the goals of the NFDI. However, it is important to us that
- The relevant regulations of the FDG are always conceived and formulated with the aim of facilitating the reuse of research data in mind.
- The FAIR principle of "Accessibility," meaning the ultimate accessibility of the research data found using the platform, is considered from the outset in discussions about possible platform architectures.
- Any structures and services created by the law are always defined as complementary to already established structures within the scientific community.
Overall, the law should fit seamlessly into existing national and European regulatory frameworks. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, the NFDI refrains from commenting on the topics relevant to the social sciences, such as microdata centers and statistics/register data, and would like to refer to the relevant commentary from relevant bodies and professional societies.