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IGSN Registration Services @ GFZ Data Services

For IGSN registration, GFZ Data Services works with many internal and external groups across all of the Earth Sciences, including a large number of long-tail communities. GFZ therefore does not have a central sample database for the whole institution. Instead, some groups are using digital sample management systems that are bespoke to their needs and typically not used beyond their group, while others are collecting sample descriptions in spreadsheets saved on their own computers. While GFZ Data Services is operating a central IGSN catalogue and metadata database, it has to be highly flexible in how it obtains the required sample metadata and has therefore developed several strategies to achieve this.

To guarantee the uniqueness of each IGSN, GFZ Data Services is keeping the original IGSN namespaces (GF or IGSN) that are followed by sub-namespaces that may be used by individuals or research groups. New users are kindly advised to apply for a sub-namespace via email to igsn@gfz-potsdam.de and provide the following information: full name, affiliation, email adress (list of registered IGSN namespaces at GFZ Data Services). 

Individual users of our services are advised to use the FAIR SAMPLES Template. Interested Groups that are using digital sample management systems, please contact us to develop appropriate workflows for IGSN registration.

Metadata Submission Guide using the FAIR SAMPLES Template

You can submit your sample metadata for IGSN registration to GFZ Data Services as follows: 

  1. Download the FAIR SAMPLES Template from Zenodo.
  2. Open the template using MS Excel or Libre Office and read the instructions in the worksheet “HowTo”. You can find more help here and in the Youtube Video Tutorial.
  3. Make yourself familiar with the variables available in the worksheet “Guide” and select the fields required for the description of your samples. The selected variables will appear as column headers in the sample description templates “Parent” to “Child3”. Note that mandatory fields are preselected and must be filled in the templates.
  4. Fill the worksheet “Parent” and, optionally, “Child1”, “Child2” and “Child3” with your metadata.
  5. Send the filled Excel file and any questions via email to igsn@gfz-potsdam.de. 
  6. You will be receiving a response from us with suggestions on how to further standardise your sample metadata to make it more human- and machine readable.
  7. Please check and edit the dataset attached in the response mail and send a confirmation or change requests. This step is typically an iterative process and requires some correspondence.
  8. After your final confirmation, the samples will be registered with IGSN and listed in the GFZ Data Services Sample Catalogue and in DataCite Commons.

Guide:

FAIR SAMLES Template

Find samples:

GFZ IGSN Catalogue

IGSN Metadata

IGSNs resolve to persistent landing pages, which are managed by IGSN Agents. The landing pages display structured sample descriptions following the dedicated GFZ IGSN metadata schema.

The modular IGSN Metadata Schema used today consists of the IGSN Description Metadata schema that was developed by IGSN members with inputs from their Earth and Environmental sciences communities (Klump et al., 2021). The IGSN Description Schema contains persistent information about registered samples, such as temporal and spatial coordinates of sample acquisition, metadata about involved institutions and sample-requesting scientists, information about the sample material, collection methods, and alternate or related identifiers. It is based on the principles of the DataCite Metadata Schema and modified in terms of cardinality and restrictions on particular metadata elements, while new elements (e.g., geolocation, collection methods, materials) were added to represent essential sample information that goes beyond the requirements of a bibliographic catalogue. It was deliberately kept general to allow the compilation of a global catalogue of, e.g., geological and biological samples and sample collections and is intended to be the common metadata kernel for all samples. 

The IGSN Description Schema is complemented by sample-type-, community, or -discipline-specific metadata where granular additional descriptions can be provided (IGSN Supplementary Metadata).