{"id":24058,"date":"2026-04-17T11:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/?p=24058"},"modified":"2026-04-16T12:38:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:38:02","slug":"drei-jahre-coscine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2026\/04\/17\/drei-jahre-coscine\/","title":{"rendered":"Coscine \u2013 Three Years of Regular Operation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_24058 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_24058')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_24058').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/itc\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/17\\\/drei-jahre-coscine\\\/\",\"post_id\":24058,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"Coscine+%E2%80%93+Three+Years+of+Regular+Operation\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><p><div id=\"attachment_24063\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24063\" class=\"wp-image-24063 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Party Popper shooting outConfetti and Coscine Logo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2026\/04\/Coscine-Regelbetrieb-3-Jahre_ITCBlog-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-24063\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Own Illustration<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>This month marks a milestone: <a href=\"https:\/\/about.coscine.de\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coscine<\/a> has been in full <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2023\/04\/17\/coscine-regelbetrieb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">operation<\/a> for three years and is celebrating its anniversary. It\u2019s a good opportunity to pause for a moment and take a look at how the research data management platform has evolved technically and what has happened since it went live in April 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Coscine has long been more than just a project: As a central component of research data management, the platform supports researchers in their daily work and continues to evolve in response to practical needs.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Reliable Operation Meets Continuous Improvement<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>With the transition to regular operations in 2023, the foundation was laid for a stable, reliable service. Another sign of this consolidation was the registration of Coscine as a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2024\/11\/27\/coscine-markenanmeldung\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trademark<\/a>, which clearly positions the platform beyond its purely technical operations.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, \u201cregular operation\u201d by no means meant standing still. Quite the contrary: Over the past three years, there has been a strong focus on consolidating existing components, providing new features, and expanding the technical foundation to make it future proof.<\/p>\n<p>The platform\u2019s clear structure and central API enable users to easily access stored research data as well as enter and search for metadata.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Modern Storage Infrastructure: A Major Step Forward<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A key technical milestone was the gradual <a href=\"For%20users,%20this%20means:\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">replacement<\/a> of the previous Research Data Storage (RDS) with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.land.nrw\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DataStorage.nrw<\/a>. The integration of this state-wide, geographically redundant S3 object storage significantly expanded and standardized Coscine\u2019s storage infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>For users, this means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>greater reliability thanks to distributed locations,<\/li>\n<li>significantly greater available capacity, and<\/li>\n<li>a unified resource type for DH.NRW universities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2025\/01\/20\/migration-von-rds-zu-datastorage-nrw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The migration<\/a> of existing data was carried out in a coordinated manner and without any active effort on the part of researchers. This was a challenge that was extensive both technically and organizationally and further strengthened Coscine\u2019s role as a central access system.<\/p>\n<p>Since July 2023, a dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/jards.coscine.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coscine-JARDS<\/a> instance has been used for submitting and reviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2025\/08\/27\/speicherplatzantraege-mit-jards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">storage space requests<\/a>. How researchers at participating universities can submit a storage space request and which <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/forschungsdaten\/en\/2026\/03\/19\/coscine-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents assist researchers and reviewers in this process<\/a> have already been covered in separate blog posts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">API, Automation, and Integration Into Research Processes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A lot has also happened \u201cunder the hood.\u201d The <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2024\/11\/08\/coscine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">API<\/a>, as the platform\u2019s core component, has been continuously expanded and fundamentally enhanced with a new API version in the fall of 2023. It forms the foundation for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>automated access to data and metadata,<\/li>\n<li>the integration of Coscine into local workflows, and<\/li>\n<li>the use of specialized clients or, for example, the Coscine Python SDK.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this way, Coscine not only supports manual work via the web interface but increasingly also automated and reproducible research processes\u2014an important step for modern data-driven research.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Metadata, FAIR, and Semantic Search<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A key focus of further development remained in the area of metadata and FAIR digital objects. Building on existing structured metadata profiles, RDF-based data models, and validation via SHACL, targeted improvements have been implemented in recent years to further enhance the discoverability and reusability of research data.<\/p>\n<p>An important step was the expansion of the PID landing page in line with FAIR Digital Objects: Additional metadata is now displayed there, allowing interested parties to gain a better initial impression of the data and, if necessary, request targeted access from the project managers.<\/p>\n<p>Progress has also been made in the area of search. Semantic search makes it possible to discover data more effectively across content-related contexts, thereby improving the reuse of research data.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, several features have been introduced to make using Coscine easier in day-to-day operations. These include integration with the NFDI RegApp Community AAI login, which simplifies the onboarding of new universities and consortia\u201414 universities have already been integrated through this process. Users can also configure topic-specific email notifications in their user profiles. In addition, a feature for requesting data publication from one of the listed publication services has been implemented.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Regular Operations Also Mean Taking Feedback Seriously<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Finally, feedback from the community has played a key role. Surveys, support requests, and direct communication with users are continuously incorporated into the platform\u2019s ongoing development, whether in terms of user guidance, new resource types, or documentation.<\/p>\n<p>Regular operations provide the necessary framework for implementing improvements in a planned manner and rolling out new features incrementally.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Outlook: Ready for the Coming Years<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Three years of regular operation have shown that Coscine has matured technically and is both stable and flexible. The platform has adapted to new requirements and now serves as a robust foundation for research data management at RWTH Aachen University and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Have you been using Coscine in recent years? Which features are particularly helpful to you in your day-to-day research work? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. We\u2019re eager to hear about your experiences!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Learn More<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Don\u2019t want to miss out on anything? Then check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/about.coscine.de\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coscine website<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2024\/11\/08\/coscine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IT Center blog<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/forschungsdaten\/en\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FDM blog<\/a>, and subscribe to the Coscine newsletter for exciting updates, new features, and helpful tips!<\/p>\n<p>Live: the <a href=\"https:\/\/s2survey.net\/coscine_umfrage_2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coscine user survey<\/a> is open until April 30, 2026. Take this opportunity to help shape the future of the research data management platform.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Responsible for the content of this article are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/it-center\/it-center\/profil\/team\/~epvp\/mitarbeiter-pvz-\/?gguid=PER-DTJF9WU&amp;allou=1&amp;lidx=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hania Eid<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/it-center\/it-center\/profil\/team\/~epvp\/mitarbeiter-pvz-\/?gguid=PER-9LSMQLX&amp;allou=1&amp;lidx=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Katja Jansen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/it-center\/it-center\/profil\/team\/~epvp\/mitarbeiter-pvz-\/?gguid=PER-N6AW3XB&amp;allou=1&amp;lidx=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arlinda Ujkani<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6316,"featured_media":24063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1574,305],"tags":[483,46,1375,40,1029],"class_list":["post-24058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fdm","category-themen","tag-api","tag-coscine","tag-datastorage-nrw","tag-fdm","tag-rwth-aachen"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24058"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24072,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24058\/revisions\/24072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}