English

On the Communication of Scientific Results: The Full-Metadata Format

Digital Libraries 2010-01-21 v1 Information Retrieval Computational Physics Instrumentation and Detectors

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a scientific format for text-based data files, which facilitates storing and communicating tabular data sets. The so-called Full-Metadata Format builds on the widely used INI-standard and is based on four principles: readable self-documentation, flexible structure, fail-safe compatibility, and searchability. As a consequence, all metadata required to interpret the tabular data are stored in the same file, allowing for the automated generation of publication-ready tables and graphs and the semantic searchability of data file collections. The Full-Metadata Format is introduced on the basis of three comprehensive examples. The complete format and syntax is given in the appendix.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.1299,
  title  = {On the Communication of Scientific Results: The Full-Metadata Format},
  author = {Moritz Riede and Rico Schueppel and Kristian O. Sylvester-Hvid and Martin Kuehne and Michael C. Roettger and Klaus Zimmermann and Andreas W. Liehr},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.1299},
  year   = {2010}
}