News Archive
New functions for RADAR4Chem - GitHub import, Markdown formatting and a new RADAR REST API endpoint are added. 
3rd Ontologies4Chem Workshop 2024 - The online event was a great success again this year, with more than 60 international participants. 
NFDI4Chem at the workshop focussing on data competence - Sonja Herres-Pawlis talked about Research Data Management in Curricular Teaching, NFDI Section EduTrain and the DALIA Platform. 
NFDI4Chem at the 1st Base4NFDI User Conference - On November 20 and 21, the first Base4NFDI User Conference took place at Fraunhofer FOKUS in Berlin. 
Open Data goes Europe! 💪 - Last week, the EOSC Symposium 2024 and the satellite event EOSCxNFDI marked an important milestone in international networking. 
Enhancing Chiral Catalyst Search with Ontology Terms - Buchler GmbH improved its Search by integrating ontology terms through Terminology Service. 
Published and yet disappeared? - Scientists should pay attention to exit strategies of repositories. 
Practical RDM in University Education - Lessons learned from a research data management workshop at the consortium meeting in Halle. 
Consortium Meeting 5.0 in Halle - For two days, members of the consortium, of the Advisory Boards and guests discussed FAIR data and data infrastructures in chemistry. 
Metadatathon and Metadata4Chem Meeting with PSDI - Reports from the NFDI4Chem Metadatathon and the Metadata4Chem online meeting with UK-PSDI. 
Second overview of NFDI collaborations published - This overview provides information on the collaborations, the number of which has doubled since the last publication. 
IUPAC InChI moves to GitHub for sustainable chemical standards - The latest version 1.07 of the International Chemical Identifier has been approved. 
National Infrastructures on an international stage - NFDI4Chem attends the 9th EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Dublin 
Chemotion Hackathon 2024 - In June 2024, a hackathon took place at the TU Braunschweig with members from 4 working groups for Theoretical Chemistry. 
Interim Report published - Our latest report highlights our steps to integrate a data-centric approach within the chemistry community. 
Ulm University joins NFDI4Chem - Since the beginning of June 24, Ulm University has been an official participating institution of NFDI4Chem. 
Advancing Digital Transformation in Chemistry - 2 new publications highlight the current state and progress of the digital transformation in chemistry. 
Speakers for NFDI-Sections - We are pleased and proud that two of the sections will be chaired by co-speakers from NFDI4Chem. 
Updates on Chemotion Repository - In this version, we've enhanced the data transfer process for greater efficiency and reliability, along with several other updates and improvements. 
First euroSAMPL blind prediction challenge finished - The NFDI4Chem-supported euroSAMPL challenge combined molecular property predictions with peer evaluation of data FAIRness 
Successful Workshop on FAIR Terminology Services - The workshop featured lightning talks covering diverse topics, like latest developments of the Ontology Lookup Service, terminology mappings etc 
3-2-1 Rule - Better make backups: The 3-2-1 rule is a method to prevent data loss and ensure the integrity of research results. 
Repositories in Profile – nmrXiv - Here, we provide a brief overview of nmrXiv as part of our series “repositories in profile”. 
Open data vs. FAIR data: A comparison - Open data and FAIR data are two important concepts, and their differences are a source of confusion. 
What is the DEAL project? - DEAL or Project DEAL is a pioneering project in the German academic landscape, which abolished APCs paid by the authors. 
Saving time with ELN and Repositories - 3 use-case stories help to understand, how and why using an ELN and a repository doesn't cost time, but saves it. 
FAIR4Chem-Award 2024 - Interview with Robin Lenz from the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, the 2024 award winner. 
Ivan Vilotijević on Electronic Lab Notebooks - About the advantages of using an electronic lab notebook and experiences of introducing it in a research lab. 
Integrating digital literacy into teaching - Interview with Prof. Dr. Georg Manolikakes from the RPTU Kaiserslautern, how to teach digital tools in a practical course. 
Report on the InChI Trust Meeting - On 26th and 27th March, the InChI Trust came together at the CCDC headquarter in Cambridge. The InChI is the molecular identifier guarded by the IUPAC and needed for chemical… 
Report on the WorldFAIR workshop - On 25th and 26th March, international stakeholders in the field of digital standards in chemistry assembled at the CCDC headquarter in Cambridge. This workshop was organised by the IUPAC, the… 
Chemiedozententagung in Aachen under the sign of the digital transformation of chemistry (CDT24) - Mid of March, more than 280 chemists gathered for three days in Aachen for the famous Chemiedozententagung. The program featured almost 90 excellent talks by young professionals from all branches… 
Highlights from Chemotion Repository 2.0.0 - Another new release of Chemotion Repository is out! Take a look at some of our highlights. 
Collection of repositories for chemists - The recent integration of a curated collection of these identified repositories into FAIRsharing is an important milestone. 
RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau joined NFDI4Chem - In February 2024 RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau became an official participating institution of NFDI4Chem. 
Lively exchange at the community workshop - The workshop marked the start of planning the second application to take the NFDI4Chem consortium into the second funding phase from 2025. 
A New NMR MI Standard – Feedback Welcome - We propose a new draft set of recommendations covering Liquid-State NMR Experiments. 
Robin Lenz is FAIR4Chem-Awardee 2024 - We have a winner: Robin Lenz from the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden. 
How to start with FAIR data in Chemistry - If you've ever thought about making your data FAIR but didn't know how to start, take a look at our infographic. 
New Release of Cheminformatics Microservice - Effortlessly integrate cheminformatics tools into your web application or workflows 
Successful RDM-Workshop in Hannover - Last week, the “FAIR Research Data Management: Basics for Chemists” workshop team stopped in Hannover. A review. 
Increased co-operation agreed - NFDI4Chem and NFDI4Ing have agreed to expand and consolidate their cooperation in the field of data management plans. Publish Research Data in a FAIR way in RADAR4Chem - RADAR4Chem helps you publish your chemistry research data as easily as possible. 
Hacking for Chem (again!) - Two hackathons with NFDI4Chem participation took place during the last months: 2023 ELIXIR BioHackathon Europe & 2nd BioHackathon Germany 
ELN open for Non-Chemists - Updates from the Chemotion Repository. And a Milestone officially launched: LabIMotion offers customized functionalities. 
2nd Editors4Chem Workshop - This workshop is part of the holistic strategy of NFDI4Chem to increase the uptake of FAIR data publishing in chemistry by interfacing with the academic publishers. RADAR4chem increases FAIRness indicators - RADAR4Chem recently participated in the virtual support measure "FAIRness assessment challenge for datasets and semantic artefacts" of the EU project FAIR-IMPACT. Exploring the needs in ontology development - Impressions from the 2nd Ontologies4Chem workshop, Oct 2023 in Hannover 
Another ELN made available for testing - The website demo.chemotion.scc.kit.edu/ provides a collection of test versions of various electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs). 
Colours of open access publications - Open Access comes with different models. You should know their colour codes. 
Integration of Research Data Management into Chemistry Studies - Teaching RDM to students early on in their studies is key for a sustainable RDM integration in academia. 
International Data Week 2023 in Salzburg: A Festival of Data - In October IDW 2023 took place in Salzburg. Researchers from all over the world met to discuss and celebrate data. 
Research Data Management – Flyer out now! - This flyer is made for all chemists who are not yet well versed in RDM but want to be. Simple - fast - with examples from practice. 
Workshop Report: Python Computing 4 Chemists - September 18 to September 20, interested people from all over Europe gathered at RWTH Aachen University to participate in a Python computing workshop specifically designed for chemists and adjacent disciplines. 
NFDI4Chem @ ACS FAll 2023 - We are pleased to share our participation in the ACS Fall held in San Francisco. 
NFDI4Chem Converter Service – Submit Your Analytical Data! - Contributors wanted: To test and improve the NFDI4Chem Converter Service, we need test sets. 
Five years of just hoping? - Hard disks have a maximum warranty of 5 years. But the DFG requires 10 years for data storage: Now do the math. 
BAM joins NFDI4Chem - We are very happy to welcome the BAM (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing) as new participating institution in the NFDI4Chem consortium. 
NFDI4Chem @ RDA Plenary 20 - More than 700 participants enjoyed 53 sessions and several co-located events at the RDA 20th plenary. RDM-Workshop in Stuttgart – soon at your institute? - Did you know that you can book a free in-house workshop on research data management at NFDI4Chem, e.g. for two days? Our last RDM-Workshop took place in mid-June in Stuttgart,…
NFDI4Chem at ACS Spring and Fall - Talks, Workshops and Networking in Indianapolis and San Francisco. Earlier this year, NFDI4Chem attended the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring Meeting in Indianapolis (March 26-30). It was great to see…
Author Guideline Landscape - The survey shows that publishers and journals are starting to include aspects of research data sharing in their guidelines. 
Relaunch of NFDI4Chem Knowledge Base - The NFDI4Chem Knowledge Base has been restructured and presents a bunch of new features. InChI Workshop on Inorganic Stereochemistry - RWTH Aachen, May 10 and 11, 2023 Organised by Sonja Herres-Pawlis (RWTH Aachen, Germany) and Gerd Blanke (InChI Trust) For the next release the developers of InChI are working on…
CDD 23 – Focus on data in chemistry - On the 6th and 7th of June this year, the Chemistry Data Days took place in Mainz for the first time. Speakers examined data in chemistry from different angles. 
FAIR raw data in the Journal of Natural Products - From June 2023, the American Journal of Natural Products require authors to make NMR data public and fairly available. 
FAIR data mandatory as of August 2023 - Publication of FAIR data is mandatory for scientists at institutions that (want to) receive funding from the DFG. 
About FAIR Data – Johanna R. Bruckner - Interview with Dr. Johanna R. Bruckner, winner of the FAIR4Chem Award 2023. Refreshed Workshop Concept - Specific NFDI4Chem workshops available to serve the needs of the community
Best Practice Using RADAR4Chem - Data on collaboration with chemical engineers deposited in RADAR4Chem
News from RADAR4Chem - In the December 2022 software release, the FAIRness of RADAR4Chem was further optimised.
New Board Member of the InChI Trust - Strengthening the InChI for integration of molecular inorganic chemistry The IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) is a non-proprietary identifier for chemical substances. It enables easier linking of different data collections.…
FAIR4Chem Award 2023 – The winners - The awards were presented on March 23rd at the Spring Symposium of the GDCh JungChemikerForum in Gießen
Hacking4Chem - In December the first BioHackathon Germany was organised by the team of the German ELIXIR node.
Error Culture in Science - "Researchers are afraid of publishing their data „because others may discover mistakes". A panel discussion about error culture und cultural change.
NFDI4Chem Terminology Service V2.0 is Launched - Interested in ontologies in the field of chemistry or closely related disciplines? Then you should definitely take a closer look at our redesigned Terminology Service!
NFDI4Chem Search Service is Live - You are looking for datasets in the context of chemistry and are tired of searching countless repositories one by one? Then our new Search Service is exactly what you need!
Changes in our Advisory Boards - This year we also had two changes in the composition of our advisory boards.
New Participants - We are very pleased to welcome Prof. Jürgen Pleiss, Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry at the University Stuttgart as new participant in the NFDI4Chem consortium.
Lead by Example – Data Pledge - Our Lead-by-Example collection aims to provide a large body of real datasets to document the process of evolving FAIRness of research data, to surface practical issues, and to suggest improvements.
Reaching out! - NFDI4Chem has been busy in the latter half of the year visiting many events such as conferences. Here, important connections for NFDI4Chem with key organisations were established.
NFDI4Chem at Tag der Forschungsdaten - NFDI4Chem was there and held flash talks in two parallel sessions: One about “Metadata, Ontologies and Standards”, and another about “Training and Awareness”.
Call for Minimum Information Standards in Chemistry Published in Angewandte Chemie - Many funders require RDM because experiments are often paid for by taxpayers and the resulting data should be deposited sustainably for posterity. However, paper notebooks are still common in laboratories.
NFDI4Chem at NFDI Info Event at Uni Hannover - On November 2, NFDI@LUH, the first information event about NFDI at Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH), took place. In addition to five other consortia, TIB presented NFDI4Chem and the services for…
Vibrational Spectroscopy Ontology Working Group - Call for participation Until now the focus of NFDI4Chem and Ontologies4Chem was mainly contributing to existing ontologies, improving the quality and extending their scope. Our latest activities included the Ontologies4Chem…
Article Published in “Nachrichten aus der Chemie” - NFDI4Chem - Article “Treatment of research data” online now. The article appears in the October issue (2022) of the Journal “Nachrichten aus der Chemie” and highlights the tools and solutions…
Workshop: Ontologies4Chem - The first Ontologies4Chem Workshop organised by NFDI4Chem took place on September 7th - 8th 2022. Over 50 international participants accepted the invitation to the online event. The overarching aim of…
TUCAN: Publication & Interactive Demo Version Online - TUCAN is a canonical serialisation format that is independent of domain-specific concepts of structure and bonding. The atomic number is the only chemical feature that is used to derive the…
Unlimited Embargo in RADAR4Chem - Since the last software release in July 2022, researchers can publish their datasets in RADAR4Chem even with an unlimited embargo. In this case, only the descriptive metadata will be published;…
NFDI4Chem RDM Workshop in Liverpool, UK - Research Data Management is not just a national effort. The lack of data publication is an issue researchers face from all around the globe. Therefore, it is important that we…
Report from the InChI Technical Sessions in Cambridge, UK - Technical sessions were held in-person and virtually from June 17 to 19 for several of the extension projects for the InChI Standard. Topics covered included organometallics, extended stereochemistry and tautomers.…
First Chemistry Paper Using RADAR4Chem - In the research article in the Journal of Computational Chemistry entitled “Geometrical benchmarking and analysis of redox potentials of copper(I/II) guanidine-quinoline complexes: Comparison of semi-empirical tight-binding and DFT methods and…
Guidelines for Sharing in Chemotion - Published in Chemistry-Methods Sharing of data with the scientific community plays an important role in conducting FAIR and sustainable research. As an example, reporting experimental results (also negative ones) in…
Ontologies4Chem: The Landscape of Ontologies in Chemistry Published - Why are ontologies an essential building block not only for NFDI4Chem, but all NFDI? FAIR data is all about human AND machine-readable data. Ontologies are used to semantically describe data,…
Analytica Conference 2022 in Munich - From June 21 to 24, the world’s leading trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, and biotechnology, the Analytica, took place in Munich. At the accompanying Analytica conference researchers, scientists, users,…
TA-PM Retreat in Berlin - On May 23 and 24 2022 , the FIZ Karlsruhe’s department for mathematics in Berlin hosted the first in person meeting of the NFDI4Chem TA-PMs (task area project managers). The…
Ontologies4Chem Workshop - September 7 & 8, 2022, 14.00 - 18.00 CEST, Online Ontologies are a cornerstone of FAIR machine-readable data. They provide terms, relations and logic to semantically annotate and link research…
Work in Sections/Contribution to the Base4NFDI Proposal - The sections are bodies of the NFDI e.V. in which members of all NFDI consortia work together on various cross-cutting topics of common interest. This spring the sections elected their…
Consortium Meeting 2.5 – Connecting the Dots - On April 28, 2022, members of the NFDI4Chem consortium came together virtually to reflect on the progress of the project so far. Presentations set around three cross-cutting topics and a…
FAIR4Chem Award 2022: And the winner is … Chemistry! - We are currently seeing (and supporting !) the cultural change towards modern, digital research data management (RDM) in chemistry. An important set of criteria for good RDM are the FAIR…
Get to Know the Consortium: TA 5! - Overview of the six task areas Sonja Herres-Pawlis has held the Chair of Bioinorganic Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University since 2015. She studied chemistry at Paderborn, Germany, and Montpellier, France.…
New research data repositories for chemistry and cultural heritage - Researchers in the fields of chemistry and cultural studies now have access to new services for publishing research data. These are based on the established RADAR repository from FIZ Karlsruhe…
The NFDI network collects information about resources for scientists from Ukraine - Putin’s war against Ukraine has left the world in shock. NFDI4Chem stands in solidarity with the people in Ukraine. The NFDI head office is collecting links, contact addresses and services…
FAIR4Chem Award 2022 Winners - And the winner is… FAIR datasets are indeed feasible in chemistry, because where there's a will, there's a way. Of all datasets submitted for the FAIR4Chem Award 2022, two proved…
Data pledge: Let’s lead-by-example! - NFDI4Chem has a clear vision of how chemistry research data will be collected, processed, archived, shared and published. Before our NFDI4Chem’s infrastructure and tools are released, we would like to…
Launch of NFDI4Chem Knowledge Base - Are you confronted with research data management in chemistry and are feeling lost? NFDI4Chem is proud to announce the launch of its knowledge base. We were so impressed by Elixir-Converge’s…
Contributions to Sections in NFDI - NFDI4Chem is actively involved in several of the recently founded sections of NFDI. They tackle overarching tasks across the NFDI consortia. NFDI4Chem and NFDI4Ing jointly coordinate the work in the…
Presenting a New Look - NFDI4Chem launched its new logo in the last quarter of 2021. The simple, clear, and recognisable graphic was designed to align with the key concepts of research data management in…
Short Report on the 2nd Consortium Meeting - NFDI4Chem held its second consortium meeting on 14 and 15 October 2021. The members of the consortium were joined by representatives from all four Advisory Boards. A full programme highlighted…
Get to Know the Consortium: TA 4! - Overview of the six task areas Steffen Neumann Lead of TA 4Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry I am Steffen Neumann - head of the Research Group Bioinformatics and Scientific Data…
1st Editors4Chem Workshop - NFDI4Chem together with Leah McEwen (Cornell University, Ithaca) and Vincent Scalfani (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa) from IUPAC organised the 1st Editors4Chem workshop, which was held on the 3rd of November…
“FAIRThesis” is Funded by the FCI - Funding focused on establishing aspects of digitalisation in chemical education. The teaching project "FAIRThesis" of Prof. Sonja Herres-Pawlis (RWTH Aachen University) and Dr. Nicole Jung (KIT) is supported by the…
Event Throwback: Minimum Information Standards, NFDI4Chem Takes the International Stage – Part I - Efforts for the development of minimum information standards for research data in chemistry have to be addressed in an international context. Thus, Dr. Johannes Hunold (TIB) presented NFDI4Chem’s vision for…
NFDI4Chem Terminology Service Online - The NFDI4Chem Terminology Service release 1.0 has been launched! FAIR data principles call for rich metadata using a formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation. Natural language…
Get to Know the Consortium: TA 3! - Overview of the six task areas Matthias Razum Lead of TA 3FIZ Karlsruhe - Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastucture Matthias Razum is head of the e-Research department at FIZ Karlsruhe…
NFDI4Chem Terminology Service Launched - NFDI4Chem proudly announces the launch of its Terminology Service for the Chemistry community. What is it good for, you ask? As you probably know, the FAIR data principles play a…
NFDI4Chem, Consortium “Gemäß Satzung” - NFDI4Chem has been created as a consortium within the NFDI e.V. and has confirmed its spokespersons at its first general meeting. The “Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur eingetragener Verein” (NFDI e.V.; e.V. is…
MassBank on Ice - Did you know that MassBank data is now literally stored on ice for a thousand years? At the beginning of February last year (precisely on 02.02.2020!) GitHub took a snapshot…
Do You Already Know NMRium.org? - Allow us to introduce one of our cooperation partners to you, the NMRium project. NMRium is a joint project of Zakodium, a chemoinformatics company from Switzerland, and the DFG-funded IDNMR…
Get to Know the Consortium: TA 2! - Overview of the six task areas Dr. Nicole JungLead of TA 2 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Nicole Jung studied chemistry at the University of Frankfurt am Main. After her diploma…
NFDI4Chem Helpdesk is live - The NFDI4Chem Helpdesk, the first service of the NFDI4Chem is live! The Helpdesk team is the first point of contact for all questions regarding the NFDI4Chem initiative as well as…
“Stammtisch” on the Electronic Laboratory Notebook and Repository “Chemotion” (Throwback) - The Place for Discussions Around Chemotion and more In January, our monthly “Stammtisch” on the electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) and repository Chemotion opened with a brief summary of the NFDI4Chem…
Get to Know the Consortium: TA 1 & 6! - Overview of the six task areas Christoph Steinbeck studied chemistry at the University of Bonn, where he received his diploma and doctoral degree at the Institute of Organic Chemistry. His…
Joint Webinar: Ontologies in Science and Technology (Throwback) - Ontologies can help describe research objects, processes, and results in a way that not only humans but also machines can understand and work with. This paves the way for merging…
NFDI4Chem article published in the “Bunsen-Magazin” - Overview of the First Project Phase The article, published in German, appeared in the 2/2021 issue of the Bunsen-Magazin and gives an overview of NFDI4Chem’s main tasks in the first…
Research Data Management Tutorials for Undergraduate Students - Teaching RDM at the RWTH Aachen University in an inorganic chemistry lab Basic concepts of research data management (RDM) are becoming more and more important in the course of digitizing…
Best Practice: Chemotion as Repository - Start to save your research data in an up-to-date way! The storage of research data according to the FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) is crucial for upcoming machine…
Results of the first NFDI4Chem Community Survey published! - This national survey serves as a starting point for all upcoming efforts in research data management in chemistry. Research data management is an important task to make research sustainable and…
Kicking off NFDI4Chem - The NFDI4Chem consortium met in October to mark the official start of the project. On 14 and 15 October, the members of the NFDI4Chem consortium met virtually to kick off…
NFDI4Chem proposal published in RIO Journal - NFDI4Chem is among the first funded NFDI consortia, as the Joint Science Conference (GWK) announced on 26 June 2020. Our successful proposal has been published in RIO Journal and is…
NFDI4Chem statement on Cross-Cutting Topics - The NFDI offers the opportunity to establish a science-driven, open, and high-quality national research data infrastructure. In August 2019, members of 11 consortia met to discuss common challenges posed by…
Materials and Engineering / Chemistry Colloquium - On 17. and 18.12.2019, we defended the NFDI4Chem proposal at DFG Head Office, Bonn before an international panel of reviewers, representatives of NFDI expert panel and members of the DFG.…
NFDI4Chem in CE&N - The American Chemical Society (ACS) journal Chemical and Engineering News (CE&N) discusses NFDI4Chem and other initiatives in an article on FAIR data management in chemistry.
Funding of the “Scientific Data Centre for Molecular Materials Research (MoMaF)” - Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg (MWK) is funding the "Science Data Centre for Molecular Materials Research (MoMaF)".The Science Data Center MoMaF develops digitisation modules for scientific data…
National research data infrastructure for chemistry - Workshop report On 30 October, more than 50 participants met at the TIB for the workshop "National Research Data Infrastructure for Chemistry (NFDI4Chem)".Scientists from university and non-university research organisations as…
