Combining the BIDS and ARC Directory Structures for Multimodal Research Data Organization

Interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of large and diverse datasets are becoming increasingly important. Answering complex research questions requires combining and analysing multimodal datasets. Research data management follows the FAIR principles making data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. However, there are challenges in capturing the entire research cycle and contextualizing data according, not only for the DataPLANT and NFDI4BIOIMAGE communities. To address these challenges, DataPLANT developed a data structure called Annotated Research Context (ARC). The Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) originated from the neuroimaging community extended for microscopic image data. Both concepts provide standardised and file system based data storage structures for organising and sharing research data accompanied with metadata. We exemplarily compare the ARC and BIDS designs and propose structural and metadata mapping.