STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
Short description
Before you start modeling, check what schemas, models, vocabularies and standards are already used within your domain that could be reused or built upon. Also try to identify if similair initiatives are caried out internationally. And lastly, put your requirements and metadata inventory next to that the Health-RI core and health metadata schema to analyze what is already covered in there (see also previous step). This saves time and ensures your metadata schema is efficient, using established best practices and aligning with international standards. It also reduces complexity and improves interoperability across datasets and systems in your domain.
Deliverables
Deliverable | Description |
|---|---|
Review report | A report summarizing existing standards and schemas reviewed. |
Inventory | Spreadsheet with all terms, definitions, mapped concepts, value ranges and controlled vocabularies. |
How
1. Perform a literature search
Before developing a new metadata schema for your domain, start by performing a literature review to see if there are any existing solutions or guidelines in your domain that you can incorporate and reuse. This includes looking for research papers, reviews, or technical reports that discuss metadata standards or best practices for data management in your specific field or domain. In domains like omics, a lot of effort has already gone into standardizing metadata, so it's likely that some relevant frameworks exist.
Some of the places you can search are:
Google Scholar: For scientific papers and reviews.
PubMed: A free database of biomedical literature.
arXiv : For preprints, especially in computational biology or bioinformatics, where metadata models may be discussed.
Keywords to use in your search might include "metadata schema," "ontology," "vocabulary," "metadata standards," along with your specific domain, such as "genomics," "imaging," "oncology," etc.
2. Involve experts from other domain projects, they may already have metadata schemas for your domain
Reaching out to domain experts and researchers who may have already worked on similar projects could be very beneficial. They may have insights into existing metadata schemas, vocabularies, or ontologies that aren't widely published but are used within specific communities. Collaboration can help you ensure that your schema is compatible with existing standards and practices as well as to avoid reinventing the wheel, in case someone worked on a similar problem in the past.
You could involve the experts in different ways, some of these may include:
Reaching out to communities or working groups: Join communities such as the Research Data Alliance (RDA), where working groups focus on creating, maintaining, and updating domain-specific standards.
Consult with data stewards: Many organizations and institutions employ data stewards whose job is to manage and standardize data. These professionals often have experience implementing existing metadata schemas and can provide valuable advice. In the Netherlands, there is an active Data Stewards Interest Group (DSIG) to whom you may reach out to.
Engage with domain-specific initiatives: Projects like ELIXIR (a European intergovernmental organization for life sciences data) often collaborate on metadata standards across multiple (life science) disciplines. They offer access to domain experts and resources you may be able to leverage.
Examples of expert groups:
The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH): Works on developing standards and frameworks for sharing genomic and clinical data. They provide key guidelines like Phenopackets, a standard for sharing phenotypic data.
NIH Common Data Elements (CDE): Experts involved with NIH CDE projects focus on creating consistent data elements for clinical and translational research, which could overlap with your work.
You can find experts through:
Professional networks like LinkedIn, where you can search for professionals in your domain and metadata.
Conferences and workshops where metadata and data standardization are frequently discussed.
By engaging experts and learning from their experience, you can ensure that your metadata schema is aligned with ongoing efforts in your domain.
3. Search Bioportal or the Ontology Lookup Service
To find if there are already any existing ontologies describing your domain, you can browse different ontology lookup services. Some of them are:
https://bioportal.bioontology.org - to search for biomedical ontologies
https://ontobee.org - ontology search
https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ols4 - EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service
More about selecting an ontology lookup service can be found here: https://faircookbook.elixir-europe.org/content/recipes/infrastructure/vocabularies/Selecting_and_using_ontology_lookup_services.html and about selecting the ontologies and terminologies here: https://faircookbook.elixir-europe.org/content/recipes/interoperability/selecting-ontologies.html
HRI hub involvement in this step
Health-RI can help connecting with previous projects of similar themes.