How Digital Is Chemical Research?

How do chemists manage their research data today? Which digital tools are already part of everyday research practice—and where do challenges for FAIR workflows remain?

A new publication in Digital Discovery presents the results of the second NFDI4Chem community survey, offering fresh insights into the current state of digitalization and research data management in chemistry. The study, “How Digital Is Chemical Research? Insights from the Second NFDI4Chem Community Survey on Research Data and FAIR Workflows”, highlights how researchers document, manage, share, and reuse research data in an increasingly digital scientific landscape.

The publication continues the work initiated with the first NFDI4Chem community survey, whose results were published in 2020 as a baseline assessment of research data management practices in chemistry. At the time, the survey helped identify key challenges, including limited uptake of electronic laboratory notebooks, fragmented data workflows, and a strong need for user-friendly infrastructures and standards. Importantly, the findings informed the original NFDI4Chem proposal and served as a starting point for consortium activities.

Now, several years later, the second survey provides an opportunity to revisit these questions and assess how the landscape has evolved. The results reveal progress in the digitalization of chemistry research while also identifying persistent barriers to FAIR data practices. Beyond documenting the status quo, the study demonstrates how community feedback directly informed priorities for NFDI4Chem’s second funding phase—illustrating a feedback-driven approach to building sustainable digital research infrastructures.

By comparing developments over time, the two surveys together provide a unique perspective on the ongoing cultural shift toward digital chemistry and FAIR research data management.

Ortmeyer, J. et al. (2026)
How Digital Is Chemical Research? Insights from the Second NFDI4Chem Community Survey on Research Data and FAIR Workflows
Digital Discovery
DOI: 10.1039/D5DD00584A

You can also revisit the results of the first survey here:
Results of the first NFDI4Chem Community Survey published!