Becoming a DataCite member organization is not a single milestone; it is a journey shaped by different challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. In the DataCite Member Stories blog series, we share their experiences as they work to connect research, improve discovery, and support open science using DataCite infrastructure.
In this post, we feature the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) from Germany, which shares its DataCite journey, the impact of adopting DataCite DOIs, and what it means to be part of the global DataCite community.
Spotlight on research software
Research software has become a fundamental output of the modern scientific process. Across disciplines, software is used to collect, process, analyze, and simulate data, often underpinning the findings reported in scholarly publications. In many cases, the software itself represents a significant research contribution, embodying novel methods and domain expertise. Historically, research software has been difficult to discover, cite, and track, limiting its visibility, reuse, and recognition.
Recognizing the need for global coordination to shape the future of research software in the age of generative Artificial Intelligence, the Research Software Alliance (ReSA) convened the inaugural edition of the International Research Software Conference (IRSC), which took place on 7-8 September 2026 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. IRSC brought together leaders and decision-makers across the research software ecosystem. Discussions covered topics including research software sustainability and funding, software publishing and citation, community building, skills and training, FAIR practices, software quality, and the role of persistent identifiers in recognizing research software. A presentation by Maria Levchenko, DataCite Community Specialist, “Leveraging DataCite DOIs for Software Citation and Reuse”, highlighted how registering PIDs such as DOIs, together with rich, standardized metadata, can help track software use and assign credit to those who develop and maintain it.
DataCite supports DOI registration for research software with a dedicated Software resource type in the DataCite Metadata Schema, alongside more than 30 other types of research outputs, resources, and activities. The DataCite Metadata Schema accommodates software-specific use cases, for example, accurately identifying software versions and dependencies with a dedicated relationType property. Connection metadata in DataCite enables links between software and the broader network of research outputs, including publications and datasets, computational notebooks, workflows, and models, using the relatedIdentifier property, that supports SoftWare Hash IDentifiers (SWHIDs) from Software Heritage as a relatedIdentifierType. Since the first DataCite DOI for software was registered in 2011, over one million software DOIs have been registered by DataCite members, placing software among the ten most frequently registered resource types in the DataCite registry.
DataCite supports a wide range of institutional use cases for software, with examples from the nanoHUB and OpenKIM presented at the DataCite Open Hours on 23 September 2026. In this blog post, DataCite member organization Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf shares its experience of being a part of the DataCite community and using DataCite services to establish software as a first-class research output.
Advancing research software at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) drives forward cutting-edge research in the fields of matter, energy, and health. It supports researchers in ensuring their work is reproducible and follows FAIR principles – in particular through RODARE, an institutional repository for research software and data.
RODARE is a central component of the HZDR’s open science strategy, ensuring discoverability and reuse of research results. The HZDR team responsible for RODARE is engaged in ensuring the smooth publication of digital research results. The team also facilitates connections between the HZDR community and regional, European, and global initiatives. Additionally, the team provides support to software developers and researchers in gaining visibility and recognition.
Integrating DataCite DOIs into institutional workflows
When RODARE was founded in 2017, the HZDR used the open-source software Invenio, developed by CERN, a DataCite Registered Service Provider. The platform natively supports the registration of DataCite DOIs, allowing RODARE to use a well-established standard from the start. The use of DOIs in RODARE gives HZDR full control over metadata, enables seamless harvesting by external platforms, and supports connections with internal research information systems. In practice, RODARE automatically generates and registers DataCite DOIs via an API upon code publication. For research software, RODARE supports DOI versioning to ensure precise reproducibility, with a Canonical (Concept) DOI representing all versions. Rich metadata links the code directly to underlying datasets, publications, and external infrastructures such as GitLab. A good example of such rich, connected metadata in practice is the record for “Multiphase Code Repository by HZDR for OpenFOAM Foundation Software” (https://doi.org/10.14278/rodare.4741), which tracks software versions, records ORCID iDs for authors, and establishes cross-references to related publications and software.
RODARE metadata is enhanced through cross-references with the HZDR research information system and metadata catalogs such as SciCat, incorporating extended domain-specific information. This process also validates identifiers for individual researchers, projects, and experimental contexts, ensuring a high level of data accuracy. Automated workflows further simplify the publication of software. The HERMES project uses continuous integration to transfer releases via APIs, supported by tools such as SoftwareCaRD for metadata curation. Finally, HZDR recommends that developers register the software published in RODARE within the Helmholtz Research Software Directory, which should enhance its quality as well as its visibility and recognition within the community.
The value of DataCite membership: Beyond DOI registration
At HZDR, RODARE supports the publication of software as an independent, citable research output through archival and DOI registration. It provides software developers with long-overdue recognition, enables precise version tracking for reproducibility, and delivers verifiable impact metrics for reporting to funding bodies. For HZDR, DataCite membership allows them to access a reliable technical foundation that forms the backbone of RODARE and is a central component of HZDR’s FAIR data strategy. DataCite offers stable infrastructure, a well-documented REST API, an established metadata schema, and other complementary services. The DataCite API is used to track software citations, supporting the development of methods to measure software performance and quality, such as the Helmholtz Quality Indicator. As schema mapping can often present a challenge, the ongoing development of the DataCite Metadata Schema by the Metadata Working Group increasingly takes software-specific requirements into account. For HZDR researchers, a DataCite DOI serves as an established mark of quality and long-term discoverability, while the DataCite ORCID Auto-Update feature helps seamlessly link software contributions to the authors’ ORCID records. DataCite’s strong community and established best practices provide valuable resources that HZDR can rely on for future developments, for example, when restructuring the repository landscape or updating institutional policies.
The future of research software at HZDR
Building a research culture that recognizes and adopts software citations takes time. HZDR views automation as a key component of this change: tools such as HERMES or Invenio’s GitHub integration significantly lower the barriers to software publication, while curation tools like SoftwareCaRD improve metadata quality. HZDR plans to expand the use of HERMES and deepen the linking of software, data and publications through metadata connections. HZDR sees great potential in creating an interconnected ecosystem of persistent identifiers to gain a much clearer picture of software and data reuse. Its advice for organizations embarking on a similar journey is to undertake small-scale pilot projects, prioritize metadata curation at an early stage, and integrate the repository with internal research information systems.
Every organization has a unique journey in building more open, connected, and discoverable research ecosystems. Join a global community of research organizations working together to improve the visibility, tracking impact, and reuse of all research outputs. Get in touch with the DataCite team to identify the right path to support your institution.
Maria Levchenko
Maik Fiedler
Dr. Oliver Knodel
