Menoci: lightweight extensible web portal enhancing data management for biomedical research projects.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Research
• Data Science
• Software Engineering

Background:

• Biomedical research faces complex data management needs from various stakeholders.
• Existing systems often lack comprehensive features for documentation, storage, sharing, and preservation.
• The FAIR Guiding Principles are crucial for effective data management in research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce menoci, a modular web portal software for biomedical research data management.
• To address the need for improved data collection, experiment documentation, and data sharing.
• To support the transformation towards organization-wide research data management infrastructures.

Main Methods:

• Developed menoci as a modular web portal based on the Drupal content management system.
• Integrated functionalities for data collection, experiment documentation, data publication, sharing, and preservation.
• Focused on usability, information security, sustainability, and reusability.

Main Results:

• Introduced menoci, a versatile software solution for biomedical research data management.
• Menoci modules facilitate data collection, experiment documentation, and data sharing.
• The Drupal-based architecture allows for flexible deployment and integration with project homepages.

Conclusions:

• Research data management is shifting towards centralized, project- or organization-wide infrastructures.
• Open-source software tools are essential for supporting this structural transformation.
• Menoci contributes to the ecosystem of research data management tools, specifically for biomedical research.