{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T03:07:33Z","timestamp":1780542453469,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,14]],"date-time":"2016-06-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1465862400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Research as a digital enterprise has created new, often poorly addressed challenges for the management and curation of research to ensure continuity, transparency, and accountability. There is a common misunderstanding that curation can be considered at a later point in the research cycle or delegated or that it is too burdensome or too expensive due to a lack of efficient tools. This creates a curation gap between research practice and curation needs. We argue that this gap can be narrowed if curators provide attractive support that befits research needs and if researchers consistently manage their work according to generic concepts consistently from the beginning. A rather uniquely long-term case study demonstrates how such concepts have helped to pragmatically implement a research practice intentionally using only minimalist tools for sustained, self-contained archiving since 1989. The paper sketches the concepts underlying three core research activities. (i) handling of research data, (ii) reference management as part of scholarly publishing, and (iii) advancing theories through modelling and simulation. These concepts represent a universally transferable best research practice, while technical details are obviously prone to continuous change. We hope it stimulates researchers to manage research similarly and that curators gain a better understanding of the curation challenges research practice actually faces.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi5060091","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,14]],"date-time":"2016-06-14T11:12:12Z","timestamp":1465902732000},"page":"91","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Towards Narrowing the Curation Gap\u2014Theoretical Considerations and Lessons Learned from Decades of Practice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0928-8894","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Sesarti\u0107","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Digital Curation, ETH-Bibliothek, ETH Zurich, R\u00e4mistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Fischlin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Terrestrial Systems Ecology, ETH Zurich, Universit\u00e4tstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9671-083X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthias","family":"T\u00f6we","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Digital Curation, ETH-Bibliothek, ETH Zurich, R\u00e4mistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bunge, M. (1967). Scientific Research I: The Search for System, Springer. Studies in the Foundations Methodology and Philosophy of Science.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-48135-2"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bunge, M. (1967). Scientific Research II: The Search for Truth, Springer. Studies in the Foundations Methodology and Philosophy of Science.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-48138-3"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Popper, K.R. (1963). Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, Routledge & Kegan Paul.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.3050617"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Popper, K. (1972). Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach, Clarendon Press."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Pearce-Moses, R. (2005). A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, The Society of American Archivists (SAA)."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.2218\/ijdc.v3i1.53","article-title":"Meeting curation challenges in a neuroimaging group","volume":"3","author":"Whyte","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Curation"},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"331","article-title":"The larch bud moth in the Alps","volume":"Volume 1","author":"Berryman","year":"1988","journal-title":"Dynamics of Forest Insect Populations: Patterns, Causes, Implications"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"401","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-71630-0_20","article-title":"On methods of analyzing ecosystems: Lessons from the analysis of forest-insect systems","volume":"61","author":"Baltensweiler","year":"1987","journal-title":"Ecol. Stud."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"273","article-title":"Systems analysis of the larch bud moth system. Part I: The larch-larch bud moth relationship","volume":"52","author":"Fischlin","year":"1979","journal-title":"Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. Ges."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Ruchti, J., Fischlin, A., and Str\u00e4ssler, E. (1978). DDLDML. Hilfsprogramm f\u00fcr PASCAL Programmierer zur Definition und Verwaltung von INFOSYS-Datenfiles (MANUAL), Institut f\u00fcr Phytomedizin ETHZ (vormals Entomologisches Institut ETHZ)."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems and Secretariat (CCSDS) (2012). Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)\u2014Recommended Practice, CCSDS."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Andre, P.Q.C., Besser, H., Elkington, N., Garrett, J., Gladney, H., Hedstrom, M., Hirtle, P.B., Hunter, K., Kelly, R., and Kresh, D. (1996). Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, The Commission on Preservation and Access and The Research Libraries Group (RLG)."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"159","DOI":"10.2218\/ijdc.v4i1.86","article-title":"Data without meaning: Establishing the significant properties of digital research","volume":"4","author":"Knight","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Curation"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"180","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2015.03.039","article-title":"Data management, sharing, and reuse in experimental geomorphology: Challenges, strategies, and scientific opportunities","volume":"244","author":"Hsu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S19","DOI":"10.1038\/467S19a","article-title":"Science in the digital age","volume":"467","author":"Stafford","year":"2010","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Beagrie, N., Lavoie, B., and Woollard, M. (2010). Keeping Research Data SAFE 2, JISC."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Beagrie, N., Chruszcz, J., and Lavoie, B. (2008). Keeping Research Data Safe: A Cost Model and Guidance for UK Universities, JISC."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"71","article-title":"Benign neglect: Developing life rafts for digital content","volume":"30","author":"Deridder","year":"2011","journal-title":"Inf. Technol. Libr."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Kuipers, T., and van der Hoeven, J. (2010). Insights into Digital Preservation of Research Output in Europe: PARSE-Insight Survey Report D3.6, PARSE.Insight Project\u2014Permanent Access to the Records of Science in Europe."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Waller, M., and Sharpe, R. (2006). Mind the Gap\u2014Assessing Digital Preservation Needs in The UK, Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1038\/461160a","article-title":"Data sharing: Empty archives","volume":"461","author":"Nelson","year":"2009","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pryor, G. (2012). Managing Research Data, Facet Publishing.","DOI":"10.29085\/9781856048910"},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Ayris, P., Davies, R., McLeod, R., Miao, R., Shenton, H., and Wheatley, P. (2008). The LIFE2 Final Project Report, JISC, British Library, University College London, LIBER. Final Report (22\/08\/08)."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1109\/MIS.2012.57","article-title":"Making research data available in Australia","volume":"27","author":"Burton","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Intell. Syst."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2014.06.035","article-title":"Emerging good practice in managing research data and research information within UK universities","volume":"33","author":"Davidson","year":"2014","journal-title":"Proecedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Kuipers, T., and van der Hoeven, J. (2009). Insights into Digital Preservation of Research Output in Europe: PARSE-Insight Survey Report, PARSE.Insight Project\u2014Permanent Access to the Records of Science in Europe. Insight Report D3.4."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Neuroth, H., Strathmann, S., O\u00dfwald, A., Scheffel, R., Klump, J., and Ludwig, J. (2013). Digital Curation of Research Data\u2014Experiences of a Baseline Study in Germany, Verlag Werner H\u00fclsbusch."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"OpenAIRE OpenAIRE Horizon2020 Factsheets: Open Research Data Pilot in Horizon 2020. Available online: www.openaire.eu\/or-data-pilot-factsheet."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pryor, G., Jones, S., Collins, E., and Whyte, A. (2014). Delivering Research Data Management Services: Fundamentals of Good Practice, Facet Publishing.","DOI":"10.29085\/9781783300242"},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Tenopir, C., Birch, B., and Allard, S. (2012). Academic Libraries and Research Data Services: Current Practices and Plans for the Future, Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lisr.2013.11.003","article-title":"Research data management services in academic research libraries and perceptions of librarians","volume":"36","author":"Tenopir","year":"2014","journal-title":"Libr. Inf. Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1007\/s00799-012-0092-1","article-title":"An activity-based costing model for long-term preservation and dissemination of digital research data: The case of DANS","volume":"12","author":"Palaiologk","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Libr."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.2218\/ijdc.v6i1.186","article-title":"Cost model for digital preservation: cost of digital migration","volume":"6","author":"Kejser","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Curation"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1038\/469293a","article-title":"A lesson in sharing","volume":"469","author":"Carlson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1108\/14684520410522411","article-title":"A formalised model of the scientific publication process","volume":"28","author":"Hedlund","year":"2004","journal-title":"Online Inf. Rev."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"Thomas, A., Campbell, L.M., Barker, P., and Hawksey, M. (2012). Into the Wild: Technology for Open Educational Resources, University of Bolton."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Van den Eynden, V., and Bishop, L. (2014). Sowing the Seed: Incentives and Motivations for Sharing Research Data, a Researcher\u2019s Perspective, UK Data Archive, University of Essex."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lisr.2014.09.003","article-title":"Research methods in library and information science: A content analysis","volume":"37","author":"Chu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Libr. Inf. Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"138","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2014.10.023","article-title":"Research data management in the curriculum: An interdisciplinary approach","volume":"38","author":"Tammaro","year":"2014","journal-title":"Proecedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Jones, S. (2011). How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan, Digital Curation Centre (DCC). DCC How-to Guides."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1016\/j.acalib.2014.02.008","article-title":"Occupational sub-cultures, jurisdictional struggle and third space: Theorising professional service responses to research data management","volume":"40","author":"Verbaan","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Acad. Libr."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Goodman, A., Pepe, A., Blocker, A.W., Borgman, C.L., Cranmer, K., Crosas, M., Di Stefano, R., Gil, Y., Groth, P., and Hedstrom, M. (2014). Ten simple rules for the care and feeding of scientific data. PLoS Comput. Biol., 10.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1003542"},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"1","article-title":"Understanding faculty to improve content recruitment for institutional repositories","volume":"11","author":"Foster","year":"2005","journal-title":"D-Lib Mag."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1629\/14113","article-title":"The use and value of scientific journals: past, present and future","volume":"14","author":"Tenopir","year":"2001","journal-title":"Serials"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lisr.2009.02.002","article-title":"Variations in article seeking and reading patterns of academics: What makes a difference?","volume":"31","author":"Tenopir","year":"2009","journal-title":"Libr. Inf. Sci. Res."},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Morrow, T., Beagrie, N., Jones, M., and Chruszcz, J. (2008). A Comparative Study of E-Journal Archiving Solutions, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1002\/wsb.548","article-title":"Practical guidance for integrating data management into long-term ecological monitoring projects","volume":"39","author":"Sutter","year":"2015","journal-title":"Wildl. Soc. Bull."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1038\/scientificamerican1201-84","article-title":"The origins of personal computing","volume":"285","author":"Waldrop","year":"2001","journal-title":"Sci. Am."},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"Treloar, A., and Harboe-Ree, C. (2008, January 5\u20137). Data management and the curation continuum: How the Monash experience is informing repository relationships. Proceedings of 14th Victorian Association for Library Automation, Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, VIC, Australia."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Treloar, A. Private Research, Shared Research, Publication, and the Boundary Transitions, Version 1.4.3, 19 Mar 2012. Available online: andrew.treloar.net."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"CCSDS (2012). Space Data and Information Transfer Systems\u2014Open Archival Information System (OAIS)\u2014Reference Model, Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems and International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 14721:2012."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1145\/1102567.1102571","article-title":"On the usefulness of deterministic grammars for simulation languages","volume":"15","author":"Bongulielmi","year":"1984","journal-title":"ACM SIGSIM Simul. Digest"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"210","DOI":"10.1515\/abitech-2015-0037","article-title":"Zur Nachnutzung von bibliographischen Katalog- und Normdaten f\u00fcr die pers\u00f6nliche Literaturverwaltung und Wissensorganisation","volume":"35","author":"Zumstein","year":"2015","journal-title":"ABI Tech."},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"Robert, E. (1976). Theory of Modelling and Simulation, Krieger Publishing Company Inc.. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_55","unstructured":"Halfon, E. (1979). Theoretical Systems Ecology, Academic Press."},{"key":"ref_56","unstructured":"Robert, E. (1976). Theory of Modelling and Simulation, Krieger Publishing Company Inc.. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_57","unstructured":"Vick, C.R., and Ramamoorthy, C.V. (1984). Handbook of Software Engineering, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company."},{"key":"ref_58","first-page":"131","article-title":"Interactive modeling and simulation of environmental systems on workstations","volume":"Volume 275","author":"Richter","year":"1991","journal-title":"Analysis of Dynamic Systems in Medicine, Biology, and Ecology"},{"key":"ref_59","unstructured":"Nemecek, T. (1993). The Role of Aphid Behavior in the Epidemiology of Potato Virus Y: A Simulation Study, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Diss. ETH No. 10086."},{"key":"ref_60","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.2218\/ijdc.v4i1.75","article-title":"ARCHER\u2014E-Research tools for research data management","volume":"4","author":"Androulakis","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Digit. Curation"},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kunkel, R., Sorg, J., Kolditz, O., Rink, K., Klump, J., Gasche, R., and Neidl, F. (2013, January 10\u201312). TEODOOR\u2014A spatial data infrastructure for terrestrial observation data. Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE 10th International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control (ICNSC), Evry, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICNSC.2013.6548744"},{"key":"ref_62","unstructured":"Steffen, W.L., Walker, B.H., and Ingram, J.S.I. (1992). Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems: The Operational Plan, International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP). Global Change Report No. 21."},{"key":"ref_63","unstructured":"GCTE - Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Available online: www.igbp.net\/researchprojects\/igbpcoreprojectsphaseone\/globalchangeandterrestrialecosystems.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680009018.html."},{"key":"ref_64","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ancene.2016.01.001","article-title":"International Geosphere\u2013Biosphere Programme and Earth system science: three decades of co-evolution","volume":"12","author":"Seitzinger","year":"2015","journal-title":"Anthropocene"}],"container-title":["ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/5\/6\/91\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:25:23Z","timestamp":1760210723000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2220-9964\/5\/6\/91"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,14]]},"references-count":64,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]}},"alternative-id":["ijgi5060091"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijgi5060091","relation":{},"ISSN":["2220-9964"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2220-9964","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,14]]}}}