Mission and Scope¶

Mission Statement¶

The Austrian NeuroCloud (ANC) is committed to the long-term preservation of and continued access to digital research data in cognitive neuroscience. As a domain-specific, FAIR-enabling repository, the ANC supports researchers in organizing, documenting, curating, and sharing data so that it remains understandable and reusable beyond the original study. Its mission supports open and reproducible science through sustained data stewardship.

The ANC serves the cognitive neuroscience research community, focusing on Austrian institutions and publicly funded research while remaining open to international participation. Access to datasets is provided under the applicable legal and depositor-defined conditions; open metadata supports discovery even where data access is restricted.

Scope¶

The ANC supports neuroscience research data across a range of modalities, from single-modality studies to multi-year longitudinal projects. Examples include brain imaging, electrophysiological recordings, behavioral and movement data, and phenotypic and questionnaire data. The ANC Data Interface shows the data types represented in the collections. The Data Format Requirements define the accepted data and formats, including the current restriction to raw rather than derived data. The Transfer and License Agreement defines the conditions for deposit, archiving, licensing, and access.

The ANC combines automated validation with data stewardship and metadata curation to support ongoing data collection, updates, publication, and reuse. The Data Stewardship Policy describes the stewards' responsibilities and the collaboration expected from depositors.

The ANC is preparing for integration with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and contributes to community standards and infrastructure initiatives to improve dataset discovery, interoperability, and reuse. It is part of the FIDELIS Network, which connects repositories working toward trustworthiness and FAIR data stewardship. Its external engagement describes participation in standards communities and national and international initiatives.

Designated community¶

The ANC serves the neuroscience community, specializing in cognitive neuroscience. Its designated community includes researchers in cognitive neuroscience and related disciplines, undergraduate and graduate students, data stewards, and professionals involved in neuroscience data management. The primary focus is the Austrian research community. The ANC is also open to users and datasets without Austrian affiliation; acceptance of deposits depends on the repository's scope and its format and legal requirements, as defined in the Data Format Requirements and Transfer and License Agreement.

This interdisciplinary community spans psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, computer science, and philosophy. Researchers work with complex datasets collected across modalities and over extended periods. Differences in formats, contextual metadata, and knowledge of the legal requirements for handling sensitive data can make these datasets difficult to combine and reuse.

The ANC requires the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) and accepted extensions as the foundation for organizing datasets. Data stewards support metadata curation from dataset-level descriptions to participant information, experimental events, and questionnaire items. Dataset descriptions use general-purpose standards such as DataCite and the Citation File Format (CFF). Domain-specific standards, including Hierarchical Event Descriptors (HED) and the Neurobagel Data Model, support consistent annotations and interpretation across studies. The Metadata Specification describes metadata sources and dissemination channels.

Typical reuse includes meta- and mega-analyses combining datasets, secondary analyses testing new or refined hypotheses, and teaching or training with documented research data. Reuse can reduce the need for additional participant recruitment and data acquisition while increasing the scientific value of existing datasets.

The designated community is assumed to work primarily in English and to bring knowledge of its research domain and methods. Experience with data management and repository tools varies. The ANC provides this handbook and hands-on data stewardship to help users prepare, deposit, describe, and reuse data. Web interfaces support users with limited experience of the underlying technical tools.

Data stewards work with depositors during onboarding and curation to address their data management needs. The ANC also monitors developments and participates in relevant professional and standards communities, as described in External Engagement, to inform its services and curation practices.

Mission operationalization and endorsement¶

The ANC puts its mission into practice through the Data Stewardship Policy and the Transfer and License Agreement. These documents define curation responsibilities, the rights needed for archiving and maintaining datasets, and the conditions for providing access. The preservation commitment operates within the terms and limitations of the agreement.

The mission is supported by institutional commitments:

• The Performance Agreement between the University of Salzburg and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research for 2025–2027 (B2.2, No. 5) provides for the permanent establishment of the ANC and its availability across locations for storing neuroscientific research data.
• The University of Salzburg Development Plan 2025–2030 (Section 3.3) sets out the continuation of the ANC for research and teaching across institutions. It identifies discipline-specific data management services, certification, and integration into the EOSC as objectives.

These commitments establish an institutional mandate for the repository's continuing operation. Independent assessment of the repository is documented in its CoreTrustSeal certification.