31.03.2026
Long-term time series on soil moisture and nutrient levels, yield data from field trials, weather and climate data, vegetation surveys, and analyses of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: soil and agricultural science data form a central foundation for research on sustainable land use and food security. This data is often generated in field trials over the course of years and decades and is available in many different data formats. Ideally, after publication in the BonaRes repository, it is made freely available for reuse, thereby increasing its value many times over. To ensure this valuable information remains permanently accessible and usable, ZB MED – Information Center for Life Sciences and the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V. are now collaborating on a joint, cross-institutional standard process.
ZALF enables the quality-assured publication of data in the BonaRes research data repository. There, the data is published in accordance with the FAIR principles, tagged with structured metadata, and made available for citation using persistent identifiers (DOIs). ZB MED automatically imports the published data into the digital long-term archive, continuously performs technical checks on it, and ensures its long-term preservation. This ensures that digital information (data and metadata) remains available and interpretable even in the face of technological changes and the evolution of infrastructure.
Quality Assurance and Long-Term Availability
A central component of this collaboration is the close coordination between the BonaRes repository and the long-term archive. Files containing errors are flagged so that corrections can be made promptly. Data and metadata are regularly reviewed for future viability, standards are further developed, and curation processes are adapted. This creates a sustainable cycle that systematically links quality assurance, publication, and long-term availability. ZB MED also retains the data in case the BonaRes Repository should no longer be available in the long term, for example due to disruptive technical or organizational developments or as a result of natural disasters.
Integration into the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI)
As the core infrastructure of the NFDI consortium FAIRagro, the BonaRes repository makes an important contribution to the National Research Data Infrastructure. The cooperation with ZB MED particularly strengthens the long-term FAIRness of the data and its reliable reusability for research. The reliability and trustworthiness of the two infrastructures - the Long-Term Archive (ZB MED) and the BonaRes Repository (ZALF) - are demonstrated by their respective certification with the CoreTrustSeal.
Further information
BonaRes repositorium:
ZB MED's Digital Long-Term Archive:
Svoboda, N., Markus, K., Wutschka, A., Wallschläger, M., Parmaksiz, U., & Meier, K. (2025, März 4). Veränderte Nutzeranforderungen als Herausforderung für die Veröffentlichung und Langzeitarchivierung agrarwissenschaftlicher Daten. E-Science-Tage 2025, Heidelberg, Germany. Zenodo.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15114481
Svoboda, N., Schmidt, M., Meier, K., Markus, K., & Parmaksiz, U. (2021, December 1). Make the best of your data. Zenodo.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5747118
