Data Sharing in a Technological-driven Research Environment

Analogous to the technological developments, research data is being produced at a higher rate than ever, making research data management a current scientific issue. In this context researchers are encouraged not only to disclose, but also actively manage their data, including data description, so others can benefit from it. Controlled vocabularies, ontologies and metadata schemas are examples of tools that can support researchers to communicate their work. This paper consists in an overview on how metadata can be a useful asset to improve data sharing between researchers, given the biodiversity domain as an example to illustrate this scenario. Being aware that institutions usually struggle to keep up with the demands of a fast-paced, multi-domain research environment it is arguable that researchers, if provided with tools that best fit their requirements, should play a central role in the research data management workflow.