Towards a Metadata Schema for Energy Research Software

2026-01-14

AI Summary

This study addresses a longstanding gap in energy research: the absence of a domain-specific metadata schema that simultaneously adheres to FAIR4RS principles and meets practical user needs, thereby hindering the discoverability and reusability of scientific software. Through systematic requirements analysis, the authors design and implement the first metadata schema tailored specifically for energy research software, integrating formal specifications, interoperability standards, and domain-specific characteristics. User testing demonstrates the schema’s usability and confirms its capacity to effectively balance generality with domain specificity. Furthermore, the research highlights the critical role of information presentation in enhancing the quality of metadata creation, offering valuable insights for future metadata schema development in scientific domains.

Technology Category

• Search and Optimization: Metareasoning and Metaheuristics
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust

Application Category

• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Fairness-aware retrieval and ranking

Abstract

Domain-specific metadata schemas are essential to improve the findability and reusability of research software and to follow the FAIR4RS principles. However, many domains, including energy research, lack established metadata schemas. To address this gap, we developed a metadata schema for energy research software based on a requirement analysis and evaluated it through user testing. Our results show that the schema balances the need for formalization and interoperability, while also meeting the specific needs of energy researchers. Meanwhile, the testing showed that a good presentation of the required information is key to enable researchers to create the required metadata. This paper provides insights into the challenges and opportunities of designing a metadata schema for energy research software.

Problem

• metadata schema
• energy research
• research software
• FAIR4RS
• findability

Innovation

• metadata schema
• energy research software
• FAIR4RS
• user testing
• interoperability