EPIC Best Practices

Items can be created by (1) manually editing EPIC's submission form or (2) using import solutions.   Import solutions enable import direct from DOI (via CrossRef) or direct in BibTex,XXXX formats.   

Users who want to store in EPIC items whic have not been published yet will have to create the items manually.  These must be kept in the "User Workarea" until it has been accepted and thus ready for revision by assigned editors (use the "Save for later" option instead of "Deposit").

The recommended workflow for articles is to wait until a resolvable DOI is available which will give users clearly the advantage of importing the bibliographic metadata directly from CrossRef.   In this case users users will only have to complete the AWI-specific metadata fields (e.g. research platforms, grant ID, etc).  

The "Deposit" option can then be used immediately.  The item will then be movied to the editor workspace who will be notified via email immediately.  Editors are then responsible for placing the items in "live" archive where they will no longer be editable by regular users.  

Once in "live" archive, items can only be edited by the respective divison/section editors (see internal list) or librarians (request to pub-bib at awi.de).

In order to be able to distinguish among AWI authors and non AWI authors, it is crucial that all metadata in the "Author" field is correctly filled out.   For AWI authors users should additionally enter the AWI email, user ID and ORDID, if available.   For the sake of minimizing typing errors, we offer an autocompletion of these fields using the user profiles for AWI staff. 

All items must be tagged to a division/section and a Helmholtz research topic/program.  The selected organizational units shoudl reflect the affiliation of all AWI authors listed in the items.  Items which do not allign with Helmholtz research must be tagged with Helmholt Inependent research.  Users who cannot find their division/section listed shoudl contact epic at awi.de 

You will be requested to assign a short name for all items you want to create.   Items are uniquely identified via a local URN  identifier (URN means Uniform Resource Locator) using the item type and individual short name syntax .. Example: vessel:ms_hel:fb_740602 points to the ferrybox on MS Helgoland.   

While creating a short name for your device, keep in mind that the short names cannot be modified once created because they are in-use within INGEST and STORAGE (for setting the path to data files for a particular item).  Be  also aware that you cannnot create items with the same short name under one parent item.   In case you do need to change a sort name, please contact o2a-support@awi.de 

We recommend you to use the autocompletion functionality (simply type the first 3 characters of the station label as listed in PANGAEA's expedition catalogue) to confortably get the metadata fields under "Action" filled out for you and this way avoiding possible typos. The autocompletion functionality for station metaddata is supported for all large and middle-sized german vessels (Polarstern, Sonne, Metero, Alkor, Heincke, Poseidon).

It is also important to keep in mind that for actions in which a

Following the guidelines for Good Scientific Practices,  you are advised to archive all data related to your publications.   All datasets and data products archived in PANGAEA will be automatically listed in the EPIC landing pages of  individual articles in which an official DOI has been give as "Supplement" in PANGAEA.   

EPIC enables tagging to a grant number