Format & Structure Specifications

REFERENCE: overview of Format & Structure Specifications content in the ODC documentation

The ODC has a set of standards designed to ensure data is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). These standards make the data more useful for everyone, including your future self!

Format & Structure Specifications

Format and structure specifications outline both the where and how of:

• Sharing information identified by the metadata standards

• Organising the data and files that make up a complete dataset

These specifications describe:

• Accepted file format (type) for each file in a dataset

• Accepted data format

• Required structure (organisation) for each file in a dataset

  • Required fields (i.e., headers) for each file

  • Requirements and/or constraints for required fields

Both the Subject Data File and the Data Dictionary File undergo an automated file validation step at the time of file selection - this process identifies the majority of structural and formatting errors that may be contained in the files. If an error is found, the upload portal halts the upload process, returns an error message identifying the issue, and prompts the data uploader to resolve the error.

Minimum Upload Specifications

The Minimum Upload Specifications represent the bare minimum requirements that must be met in order to successfully upload a file in the ODC. All Subject Data Files and Data Dictionary Files uploaded in the ODC must meet these requirements. The minimum specifications for upload differ slightly for Subject Data Files and Data Dictionary Files.

The ODC strongly recommends that every uploaded dataset is accompanied by a Data Dictionary File and Narrative Metadata. The minimum upload specifications ensure that researchers are able to store incomplete, intermediary, and unpublished data files in their Personal Space or Lab Space and use those spaces as a data archive