Data curation

In practice — medical research context

When this role applies

Encoding

Use in your systems

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit"
      vocab-term="Data curation"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation" />

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation",
  "name": "Data curation",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation",
  "description": "Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re-use.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/credit",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "bibliographicCitation": "CASRAI Editorial Board (2026). Data curation — CRediT contributor role (v2022.1). CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation",
  "citation": "https://casrai.org/credit/citation",
  "dateModified": "2022-08-01",
  "version": "2022.1",
  "inLanguage": "en",
  "audience": {
    "@type": "Audience",
    "audienceType": "Researchers, editors, publishers, librarians"
  }
}

<contributor sequence="additional" contributor_role="author">
  <given_name>Jane</given_name>
  <surname>Doe</surname>
  <ORCID>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-XXXX-XXXX</ORCID>
  <credit_roles>
    <credit_role vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation">Data curation</credit_role>
  </credit_roles>
</contributor>

Identifiers

Persistent identifiers

Frequently asked

Common questions about Data curation

What does the "Data curation" CRediT role mean?

Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re-use.

How do I cite "Data curation" in an author contribution statement?

Per ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, list the contributor's name followed by their CRediT role(s). Example: "A. Smith — Data curation". You can add an optional degree qualifier (lead / equal / supporting) when several authors share a role. See CASRAI's author-statement guidance at https://casrai.org/credit/for-authors for templates and worked examples.

What is the canonical machine-readable URI for "Data curation"?

The canonical URI is https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation. Use this in JATS XML (vocab-term-identifier), Crossref deposits (credit_role), JSON-LD (sameAs), and any system that stores contributor metadata. CASRAI's encoding guides cover JATS, Crossref Schema 5.5, and JSON-LD at https://casrai.org/credit/jats and https://casrai.org/credit/json-ld.

Can one author hold "Data curation" plus other CRediT roles?

Yes — CRediT roles are not mutually exclusive. A single contributor typically holds 3–4 roles. The optional "lead / equal / supporting" qualifier clarifies the contributor's relative responsibility within each role they share with others.

Cite this role

Cite the Data curation role

These citations reference this specific role page as a standards-body definition aligned with ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. For guidance on citing CRediT generally, the underlying standard, or worked statement examples, see How to cite CRediT.

CASRAI Editorial Board (2026). Data curation — CRediT contributor role (v2022.1). CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation

CASRAI Editorial Board. Data curation — CRediT contributor role [Internet]. CASRAI; 2026 [cited 2026]. Version v2022.1. Available from: https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation

CASRAI Editorial Board. 2026. "Data curation — CRediT contributor role." Version v2022.1. CASRAI. https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation.

@misc{casrai_credit_data_curation_2026,
  author       = {{CASRAI Editorial Board}},
  title        = {{Data curation — CRediT contributor role}},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {v2022.1},
  publisher    = {CASRAI},
  howpublished = {\url{https://casrai.org/credit/roles/data-curation}},
  note         = {Aligned with ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. Licensed CC-BY 4.0.}
}

Notable examples

Papers exemplifying the Data curation role

These published papers demonstrate the Data curation CRediT role in practice. Each example links to its DOI and explains why the role applies.

1. Example 1 of 4

   The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship

   Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., et al. · 2016 · Scientific Data · vol. 3 · pp. 160018

   DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2016.18

   The defining contemporary articulation of what data curation is for. Wilkinson and colleagues set out the Findable-Accessible-Interoperable-Reusable principles that now govern reusable research data. The paper is itself a data-curation manifesto, and the authorship structure (large international working group) is exactly the pattern CRediT was designed to make legible. Data curation is no longer invisible plumbing — this paper made the case.

2. Example 2 of 4

   Gene Expression Omnibus: NCBI Gene Expression and Hybridization Array Data Repository

   Edgar, R., Domrachev, M., & Lash, A. E. · 2002 · Nucleic Acids Research · vol. 30 · pp. 207-210

   DOI: 10.1093/nar/30.1.207

   The foundational paper for GEO, one of the world's largest curated public repositories of high-throughput gene-expression data. The authors describe the metadata schema, deposition pipeline, and annotation standards that make tens of thousands of subsequent re-use studies possible. This is data curation as primary research output: annotation, scrubbing, and maintenance of data for initial use and re-use — the exact CRediT definition.

3. Example 3 of 4

   An Integrated Encyclopedia of DNA Elements in the Human Genome

   The ENCODE Project Consortium · 2012 · Nature · vol. 489 · pp. 57-74

   DOI: 10.1038/nature11247

   ENCODE's flagship paper describes a curated, integrated annotation of functional elements across the human genome — the product of years of metadata definition, quality control, and data scrubbing across hundreds of contributors. The consortium model demands that the data-curation contribution be made explicit. CRediT-style attribution is essentially mandatory for large-scale curation projects of this kind.

4. Example 4 of 4illustrative

   UniProt: The Universal Protein Knowledgebase in 2023

   The UniProt Consortium · 2023 · Nucleic Acids Research · vol. 51 · pp. D523-D531

   DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab1112

   UniProt is the canonical curated protein knowledgebase, and its biennial Nucleic Acids Research updates document the continuous data-curation work: annotation, quality control, schema evolution, and integration with adjacent resources. These update papers are essentially CRediT Data Curation made visible — the authorship list is the curation team.

Examples curated by the CASRAI editorial board. Inclusion is illustrative of the role, not an endorsement of methodology or claims. Pre-CRediT-era papers are flagged illustrative.

Translations

Available in

The canonical, normative version of Data curation is this English page (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022). Community-drafted translations are available below for working reference; the English text prevails in case of any divergence.

• English (canonical)en-GB
• Curation des données(Français)fr
• Curación de datos(Español)es
• Curadoria de dados(Português)pt-BR
• 数据治理(中文)zh
• データキュレーション(日本語)ja

All translations are community drafts. CRediT has not been officially translated by NISO.

Dictionary

Related CASRAI Dictionary terms

The Data curation role connects to these CASRAI Dictionary terms — the controlled-vocabulary concepts a contributor in this role typically works with. Each links to its canonical definition with worked examples and machine-readable encodings.

Adoption

Who collects Data curation — by publisher

The Data curation role is collected by the major publishers that have adopted CRediT portfolio-wide. See how each implements the taxonomy in their submission systems:

Related

Continue with CRediT