Action Plan 2025 – 2027

 

Mission

The mission of the World Data System is to enhance the capabilities, impact, and sustainability of our member data repositories and data services by:

• creating trusted communities of scientific data repositories
• strengthening the scientific enterprise throughout the entire lifecycle of data and all related components creating first-class data that feeds first-class research output
• advocating for accessible data and transparent and reproducible science.

Strategy and Action Plan

The 2022-2024 WDS strategic plan came with an updated constitution, bylaws, and included more participation from WDS members by giving them a voice to nominate and elect Scientific Committee members. Feedback was collected through the WDS Members Forum, held in Salzburg at IDW23, and a Town Hall at AGU23 in San Francisco, CA. These feedback sessions are critical in driving and prioritizing WDS’s path forward and focus. Member input is always welcomed. WDS has implemented easy ways to engage with members through rotating Office Hours held monthly, surveys, webinars, workshops, and through emails.
Making WDS transparent to our members is our goal. By giving repositories a voice in the support, tools, connections, and guidance they need, WDS ensures it remains a trusted source of information and assistance for data repositories worldwide. This approach also helps WDS stay aligned with the rapidly evolving data field and effectively serve its community as it evolves. Consequently, our efforts remain relevant and impactful.

Objectives

The WDS Scientific Committee developed the following objectives to drive
the organization’s processes and goals in the coming years.

1. Provide services and support to existing and new members
2. Develop value narratives for WDS members
3. Provide global leadership and agenda setting
4. Enhance access, quality and accessibility of data worldwide

1. Provide services and support to member repositories

WDS consults with its members and responds to their evolving needs and issues, including certifications and standards, AI readiness, sustainability, and FAIR implementation.

Example activities include:

Engage with disciplinary data communities (e.g., earth and ocean sciences, health, polar, biodiversity, astronomy, social sciences, humanities, agriculture), institutional, and generalist data repositories to serve their specific needs, as well as bridge between them for multi-disciplinary exchange and interoperability.

Enhance AI data readiness through workshops, assessments, and partnerships.

Advocate for the importance of sustained funding to maintain and extend capabilities of data repositories.

Consult with the WDS membership through town halls and member forums to best understand what specific training, workshops, and timely services and support WDS can offer.

Maintain relationships with certification organizations, including CoreTrustSeal, through regular connections and through existing working groups such as the joint RDA/WDS Certification of Digital Repositories Interest Group.

Create an inclusive system and review the organization’s membership structure with a recommendation offered during the 2025-2027 Action Plan timeframe.

Increase interactions with data repositories in low and middle income countries to better understand and serve their needs.

Continue to build and grow the WDS Early Career Researcher Network.

Support data repositories in efforts to interface with federated infrastructures, data spaces, and open science platforms.

Deliver a webinar series that fosters learning, information sharing, and diverse perspectives within the data repository community.

2. Advance the value narratives of WDS members

WDS recognizes the critical role of data repositories in serving science and society. We help members tell their stories demonstrating their repositories’ value to their communities.

Example activities include:

Highlight WDS member repositories and services on the WDS website and social media and share provided information with WDS newsletter subscribers.

Execute Delphi study to identify the most highly valued benefits of data repositories, develop illustrative examples, and promote outputs.

Emphasize how open data repositories serve the needs of research assessment reforms, evidence-based decision making and policies, and commercial products and services.

Focus on the WDS Data Stewardship Award to advance early career excellence in data.

Help WDS members to improve their Re3data records as these are often used to gather data on repositories. Clear and updated metadata also allows for a more findable entity.

Leverage events like International Love Data Week, Open Data Day, Open Access Week, Digital Preservation Day and disciplinary-focused opportunities (e.g., World Ocean Day,

International Day for Biological Diversity) in order to raise awareness of the topic and contributions by WDS and its members.

3. Demonstrate global leadership in data governance

WDS provides a collaborative forum for its members to demonstrate leadership in defining and delivering good data governance.
Example activities include:
Serve as a voice for trusted data repositories as a critical piece of the scientific enterprise.

Capitalize on the expertise and global reach of the WDS Scientific Committee members.

Co-host International Data Week on a biannual basis to convene the global data community on data trends and emerging issues.

Create, maintain, and continually update white papers detailing national policies pertaining to the governance of scientific data repositories.

Emulate and serve as role models for WDS-SC approved endorsements such as the DORA Declaration, STM/DataCite/Crossref Joint Statement on Research Data, and Open Climate Campaign.

Participate in open research activities and events, especially to enhance coordination and demonstrate open data impact.

Respond to Requests For Information (RFIs), Dear Colleague letters, and Community Feedback requests pertaining to open data, data repositories and data services, and provide copies on the WDS website for all to access. Encourage WDS members to share their countries’ RFI’s for WDS Feedback.

4. Advocate for quality, trustworthiness, equitability, and FAIRness of data and data repositories worldwide

WDS is the global voice for data repositories. Our activities are informed by principled approaches to responsible data practices. We address emerging and ongoing challenges in alignment with related international initiatives.

Example activities include:

Highlight the value of trusted data inputs sourced from trusted data repositories that serve science and reliable outputs.

Coordinate with data repositories in fulfilling objectives of major international initiatives and research infrastructures, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Square Kilometer Array Observatory, UN Ocean Decade, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Mobilize better consistency and machine-actionability of FAIR datasets through best practice training and development (e.g., persistent identifiers, licensing, semantic interoperability), automated assessments, FAIR Implementation Profiles and FAIR Enabling Resources, and data visitation capabilities. Continue to develop partnerships with major FAIR initiatives such as the Leiden Institute of FAIR and Equitable Sciences, GO FAIR Foundation, and WorldFAIR+.

Create a discourse to better define expectations and metadata regarding data curation, preservation, and quality; these critical facets of trustworthy data require more transparent and consistent approaches to their execution and documentation to effectively support science and society over the long-term.

Encourage data repositories to implement CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance into their workflows and infrastructures, and participate in related best practice developments.

Advocate for and recognize exemplars of increasing language diversity in semantic metadata services, AI models, data standards documentation, and training materials.

Develop approaches for researchers to navigate and decide upon appropriate data repository options for data deposit. This framework will aim to support a variety of use cases, including disciplinary, interdisciplinary, long-tail, and legacy data.

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