6. Tools for Metadata Tracking and Data Standards
Tools for Metadata Tracking and Data Standards
Data standards are written agreements on how data should be represented, defined, structured, tagged, transmitted, manipulated, used, and managed (US EPA, 2015). Below, we provide a couple tools for metadata tracking and data standards:
ISA Tools
Are metadata tracking tools for the life sciences (ISA Tools, 2014). The open source ISA metadata tracking tools assist with the management of a growing number of life science, environmental, and biomedical experiments that use one or more technologies.
The ISA tools, which are based on the general-purpose Tabular format for ‘Investigation’ (project context), ‘Study’ (a unit of research), and ‘Assay’ (analytical measurement), assist you in providing rich descriptions of experimental metadata (i.e. sample characteristics, technology and measurement types, sample-to-data relationships) so that the resulting data and discoveries are reproducible and reusable.
FAIRsharing
A curated, searchable portal for life sciences data standards, databases, and policies (FAIRsharing, 2021).