One of the most important steps in managing research data is the creation of metadata. Metadata represents characteristics of the raw data collected, such as the creator, collection date and subjects. Furthermore, information such as license, publisher, etc. are also metadata. To save researchers noticeable routine work in creating metadata in the medium term, the INF project of the collaborative research centre SFB 1280 “Extinction Learning” developed the MetaDataApp. The MetaDataApp is a Java application with a graphical user interface that allows researchers to easily enter metadata, as well as store metadata in local json files along with research data using an inheritance strategy. It allows the input of SFB 1280 metadata, as well as additional DublinCore and DataCite metadata that have no mapping to SFB 1280 metadata but are important for publishing the data according to the FAIR principles later. Subsequently, another app was developed by the SFB 1280 INF project, called DatabaseApp, that can be used to search the created metadata and to retrieve search results. Please refer to this project's GitLab wiki page for detailed information about the SFB 1280 metadata schema and its mapping to Dublin Core and DataCite. In short, the template comprises 16 fields developed by SFB representatives for documenting their neuroscientific, psychological, and medical research data on extinction learning. In accordance with the SFB's research data management policy, storage of this metadata is mandatory for all SFB 1280 groups.

The development of the MetaDataApp was carried out as part of the SFB 1280 INF project, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Research Foundation, project number 316803389). CJM received support by the SFB 1280 A09 project.

v3.0 release of the MetaDataApp introduces selection menus and controlled vocabularies for certain Dublin Core and DataCite fields (for details, please review the release notes on GitLab)