D8.2 Certification plan for SSHOC repositories

The distributed character of the data infrastructures in use by members of the SSHOC community means that an approach to assessing their trustworthiness and the quality of their data repositories needs to be developed. 

This report, which is the first deliverable of Task 8.2 “Trust & Quality Assurance” within WP8 of the SSHOC project, provides an overview of Trusted Digital Repository (TDR) standards and offers CoreTrustSeal as a certification framework for communities represented in the SSHOC project (CESSDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, E-RIHS). It also lays the foundation for work within SSHOC to facilitate the adoption of TDR standards and the FAIR principles in SSH data repositories across the board. 

In line with the aims of Task 8.2, the report specifies modes of support in building trust and helping repositories reach TDR certification. The current trust landscape within the SSHOC communities is also assessed, and the CoreTrustSeal  certification plan outlined for selected repositories which will be the focus of support activities later in the project. Given that there are certain types of organisation for which the CoreTrustSeal requirements are not applicable, appropriate recommendations will be tabled in future reports. This is in line with the commitment to maintaining trust in these repositories beyond the lifetime of the SSHOC project.

This report is relevant to the SSH ERICs and to repositories across the SSHOC communities. There are no direct dependencies with other SSHOC tasks, but Task 8.2 aligns itself as necessary with both SSHOC tasks and existing EOSC-related efforts promoting trust and the FAIR principles.

This deliverable has been accepted by the European Commission on - 03 November 2020