Glossary
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The world of bioimaging and research data management is full of technical terms, abbreviations, and standards that can sometimes be difficult to navigate. This glossary is designed to help by providing clear and accessible explanations of commonly used concepts.
Whether you’re a researcher, data steward, facility staff member, student, or simply curious about bioimaging data, we hope this resource helps you better understand the terminology and practices that support FAIR, reusable, and high-quality research data.
A
Annotation
Additional information attached to data or images, such as labels, descriptions, regions of interest, or biological interpretations.
API
Application Programming Interface; A set of rules that allows software tools and services to communicate and exchange data automatically.
B
Base4NFDI
A joint initiative across all German NFDI consortia aiming to develop, scale, and provide foundational basic RDM services (e.g., Identity and Access Management, PID services) for the entire German research landscape.
Bioimage Data
Digital image data generated from biological experiments using microscopy or other imaging technologies.
C
CC
Creative Commons; A widely used system of open licences that helps researchers define how others can reuse datasets, images, publications, or other materials.
D
Data Curation
The process of organizing, documenting, improving, and maintaining data to ensure quality and reuse.
DMP
Data Management Plan; A document describing how research data will be collected, organized, stored, shared, and preserved during and after a project
Data Spaces
Socio-technical frameworks and architectures (highly promoted in EU data strategies like Gaia-X) enabling trustworthy data sharing between distinct entities based on common governance rules.
Data Steward
A person who supports researchers in managing, documenting, sharing, and preserving research data according to good scientific practice and FAIR principles.
DMPCommonStandard
An application profile (e.g., RDA DMP Common Standard) that makes Data Management Plans machine-actionable, allowing systems to automatically exchange and parse DMP information.
DOI
Digital Object Identifier; A persistent identifier used to uniquely identify digital objects such as datasets, publications, or software.
E
ELN
Electronic Lab Notebook; A digital software platform used by researchers to document experiments, protocols, and raw data acquisitions, serving as the first step in the RDM lifecycle.
EOSC
European Open Science Cloud; A European Commission initiative providing a virtual environment with open and seamless services for storage, management, analysis, and reuse of research data across borders.
F
FAIR Principles
Guidelines stating that research data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
FDO
FAIR Digital Object; A conceptual and technical anchor that bundles data, metadata, and persistent identifiers into an actionable unit that machines can reliably find, access, and interpret.
File Format
A standard way of structuring and storing digital data, such as TIFF, PNG, or OME-Zarr.
G
H
Help Desk
A support service that provides assistance, guidance, and answers to user questions related to tools, data management, or infrastructure.
I
Interoperability
The ability of different software systems, formats, and datasets to work together and exchange information effectively.
J
K
Knowledge Graph
A programmatic representation of a network of real-world entities and their interrelations, increasingly used by European repositories to link metadata, creators, funding, and publications semantically.
L
M
Machine-Readable
Structured in a way that allows computers to process and interpret information automatically.
Metadata
A structured framework or blueprint that defines the rules, attributes, and relationships used to comprehensively document specific data types.
N
NFDI
Nationale ForschungsDatenInfrastruktur (National ResearchDataInfrastructure); Germany’s National Research Data Infrastructure, a nationwide initiative to systematically manage scientific and research data across various consortia.
O
OME
Open Microscopy Environment; An open community-driven project developing standards and tools for biological imaging data.
OME-NGFF
OME Next-Generation File Formats; A collection of standards developed by OME for modern bioimaging data storage. OME-Zarr is one implementation of the OME-NGFF
OME-Zarr
An open, cloud-compatible bioimaging file format designed for storing large multidimensional image datasets efficiently.
Ontology
A structured and standardized representation of concepts and their relationships within a scientific domain.
Open Data
Research data that are freely available for access, reuse, and redistribution.
Open Science
An approach to research that promotes transparency, accessibility, collaboration, and sharing of scientific knowledge.
ORCID
Open Researcher and Contributor ID; A persistent digital identifier that uniquely distinguishes researchers and connects them with their publications, datasets, software, and other research outputs.
P
PID
Persistent Identifier; A long-lasting reference assigned to a digital object, person, or organization to ensure reliable identification.
Provenance
Information documenting the origin, history, and processing of data.
R
Raw Data
Original data generated directly by an instrument before processing or analysis.
RDM
Research Data Management; The organization, documentation, storage, sharing, and preservation of research data throughout its lifecycle.
REMBI
Recommended Metadata for Biological Images; A community guideline defining the minimum metadata needed to describe and share bioimaging experiments in a consistent and reusable way.
Repository
A platform or infrastructure for storing, preserving, and sharing research data.
Reproducibility
The ability to obtain consistent results using the same data, methods, and analysis workflow.
RO-Crate
A machine-readable package format for describing and sharing research data, metadata, workflows, and associated resources.
ROR
Research Organization Registry; A community-led registry of persistent identifiers for research organizations, critical for institutional attribution in RDM infrastructure.
S
Semantic Annotation
The use of standardized terms or ontologies to add structured meaning to data and metadata.
Standard
An agreed specification or guideline that ensures consistency and interoperability across tools and datasets.
T
U
V
Version Control
A system for tracking and managing changes to files, datasets, or software over time.