Perceptual and technical barriers in sharing and formatting metadata accompanying omics studies

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

Metadata, often termed "data about data," is crucial for organizing, understanding, and managing vast omics datasets. It aids in efficient data discovery, integration, and interpretation, enabling users to access, comprehend, and utilize data effectively. Its significance spans the domains of scientific research, facilitating data reproducibility, reusability, and secondary analysis. However, numerous perceptual and technical barriers hinder the sharing of metadata among researchers. These barriers compromise the reliability of research results and hinder integrative meta-analyses of omics studies . This study highlights the key barriers to metadata sharing, including the lack of uniform standards, privacy and legal concerns, limitations in study design, limited incentives, inadequate infrastructure, and the dearth of well-trained personnel for metadata management and reuse. Proposed solutions include emphasizing the promotion of standardization, educational efforts, the role of journals and funding agencies, incentives and rewards, and the improvement of infrastructure. More accurate, reliable, and impactful research outcomes are achievable if the scientific community addresses these barriers, facilitating more accurate, reliable, and impactful research outcomes.

Authors 15

1. Yu-Ning Huang

   University of Southern California

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Pharmacy , Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , California , 90089 , USA

2. Michael I. Love

   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biostatistics , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , 27514 , USA

   Department of Genetics , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill , NC , 27514 , USA

3. Cynthia Ronkowski

   University of Southern California

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Pharmacy , Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , California , 90089 , USA

4. Dhrithi Deshpande

   University of Southern California

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Pharmacy , Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , California , 90089 , USA

5. Lynn M. Schriml

   University of Maryland, Baltimore

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Epidemiology and Public Health , Institute for Genome Sciences , University of Maryland School of Medicine , Baltimore , Maryland 21201 , USA

6. Annie Wong‐Beringer

   University of Southern California

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Pharmacy , Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , California , 90089 , USA

7. Barend Mons Aachen Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research

   Leiden University Medical Center · GO FAIR Foundation

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University Medical Center , Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research , GO FAIR foundation , Leiden , The Netherlands

8. Russell B Corbett-Detig

   University of California, Santa Cruz

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biomolecular Engineering , University of California , Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz , CA 95064

   Genomics Institute , University of California , Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz , CA 95064

9. Chris Hunter
   Affiliation as printed

   GigaDB Director , GigaScience Press , Hong Kong

10. Jason H. Moore

    Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Computational Biomedicine , Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , Los Angeles , CA 90069

11. Lana X. Garmire

    University of Michigan

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics , Medical School , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI 48105

12. T. B. K. Reddy

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · Joint Genome Institute

    Affiliation as printed

    DOE Joint Genome Institute , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA 94720 , USA

13. Atul Janardhan Butte
    Affiliation as printed

    Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute , University of California , San Francisco , San Francisco , CA 94143 USA

14. Mark D. Robinson
15. Serghei Mangul

    University of Southern California

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Clinical Pharmacy , Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , CA 90033 , USA

    Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology , USC Dornsife College of Letters , Arts and Sciences , University of Southern California , Los Angeles , CA 90033 , USA