At the RDA Plenary 25 in Brisbane, the OSCARS team and RDA partners explored how terminological inconsistencies affect the quality of data management. Their collaborative session Data management terminologies: from challenges to community recommendations laid the groundwork for community-driven recommendations and a future RDA paper on harmonising terminology to support FAIR and trusted data practices.
Understanding the Challenge
At the RDA 25th Plenary Meeting (16 October 2025, Brisbane), the session “Data Management Terminologies: From Challenges to Community Recommendations” - co-led by OSCARS project members, the Sensitive Data IG and the Professionalising Data Stewardship IG - gathered more than 60 participants (on place and remotely) from diverse disciplines.
The discussions centred on a shared problem: inconsistent terminology across data management practices, which can lead to ambiguity, inefficiency, and loss of data quality.
A Risk-Based Approach to Terminology
Building on earlier OSCARS and RDA work, the team presented a five-level severity scale, adapted from risk assessment frameworks (likelihood × impact), to evaluate the consequences of terminological confusion see the poster from RDA P23 and the one from RDA P25.
Participants assessed issues such as polysemy (multiple meanings for one term), vagueness, and adoption barriers, which emerged as the three most critical sources of confusion in the Mentimeter survey. One of the most cited examples was the term “data sharing”, which was interpreted very differently depending on roles - for data stewards, as open dissemination after a project’s completion; for researchers, as restricted collaboration within a project. These mismatched interpretations can directly affect FAIR compliance, accountability, and reproducibility.
Collaborative Insights from the Session
The session combined:
- An interactive survey using Mentimeter, to assess how terminological obstacles vary across disciplines and regions.
- Round-table exchanges, comparing experiences and identifying governance needs.
- Action planning, defining next steps towards harmonisation and the creation of a terminology checklist.
These insights will contribute to the RDA collaborative paper currently in preparation, documenting key ambiguities and proposing practical recommendations. (all documents are publicly available in the session notes: RDA P25 Collaborative Notes - Data management terminologies: from challenges to community recommendations.docx )
Next Steps
The work continues within the RDA Professionalising Data Stewardship IG and Sensitive Data IG, with all session participants invited to contribute to the upcoming publication.
By treating terminology as a shared infrastructure, this initiative aims to strengthen trust, interoperability, and the overall quality of data management across scientific domains.
Contacts:
Romain David (ERINHA, OSCARS WP3 Lead)
Anne-Sophie Bage (INRAE)
Alison Specht (TERN, University of Queensland)