TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects

The Transparent Research Object Vocabulary (TROV) is a key element of the Transparency Certified (TRACE) approach to ensuring research trustworthiness. In contrast with methods that entail repeating computations in part or in full to verify that the descriptions of methods included in a publication...

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Main Authors: Meng Li, Timothy McPhillips, Craig Willis, Nikolaus Parulian, Bertram Ludäscher, Kacper Kowalik, Lars Vilhuber, Thu-Mai Lewis, Mandy Gooch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Edinburgh 2025-02-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Curation
Online Access:https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1019
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author Meng Li
Timothy McPhillips
Craig Willis
Nikolaus Parulian
Bertram Ludäscher
Kacper Kowalik
Lars Vilhuber
Thu-Mai Lewis
Mandy Gooch
author_facet Meng Li
Timothy McPhillips
Craig Willis
Nikolaus Parulian
Bertram Ludäscher
Kacper Kowalik
Lars Vilhuber
Thu-Mai Lewis
Mandy Gooch
author_sort Meng Li
collection DOAJ
description The Transparent Research Object Vocabulary (TROV) is a key element of the Transparency Certified (TRACE) approach to ensuring research trustworthiness. In contrast with methods that entail repeating computations in part or in full to verify that the descriptions of methods included in a publication are sufficient to reproduce reported results, the TRACE approach depends on a controlled computing environment termed a Transparent Research System (TRS) to guarantee that accurate, sufficiently complete, and otherwise trustworthy records are captured when results are obtained in the first place. Records identifying (1) the digital artifacts and computations that yielded a research result, (2) the TRS that witnessed the artifacts and supervised the computations, and (3) the specific conditions enforced by the TRS that warrant trust in these records, together constitute a Transparent Research Object (TRO). Digital signatures provided by the TRS and by a trusted third-party timestamp authority (TSA) guarantee the integrity and authenticity of the TRO. The controlled vocabulary TROV provides means to declare and query the properties of a TRO, to enumerate the dimensions of trustworthiness the TRS asserts for a TRO, and to verify that each such assertion is warranted by the documented capabilities of the TRS. Our approach for describing, publishing, and working with TROs imposes no restrictions on how computational artifacts are packaged or otherwise shared, and aims to be interoperable with, rather than to replace, current and future Research Object standards, archival formats, and repository layouts.
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spelling doaj-art-a72020b233ed464680af2610ff68435c2025-08-20T02:48:08ZengUniversity of EdinburghInternational Journal of Digital Curation1746-82562025-02-0119110.2218/ijdc.v19i1.1019TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research ObjectsMeng Li0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2542-2141Timothy McPhillips1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8238-2449Craig Willis2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6148-7196Nikolaus Parulian3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6971-0882Bertram Ludäscher4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9140-936XKacper Kowalik5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1709-3744Lars Vilhuber6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-8932Thu-Mai Lewis7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3658-9692Mandy Gooch8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1024-1989University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignCornell UniversityUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel HillThe Transparent Research Object Vocabulary (TROV) is a key element of the Transparency Certified (TRACE) approach to ensuring research trustworthiness. In contrast with methods that entail repeating computations in part or in full to verify that the descriptions of methods included in a publication are sufficient to reproduce reported results, the TRACE approach depends on a controlled computing environment termed a Transparent Research System (TRS) to guarantee that accurate, sufficiently complete, and otherwise trustworthy records are captured when results are obtained in the first place. Records identifying (1) the digital artifacts and computations that yielded a research result, (2) the TRS that witnessed the artifacts and supervised the computations, and (3) the specific conditions enforced by the TRS that warrant trust in these records, together constitute a Transparent Research Object (TRO). Digital signatures provided by the TRS and by a trusted third-party timestamp authority (TSA) guarantee the integrity and authenticity of the TRO. The controlled vocabulary TROV provides means to declare and query the properties of a TRO, to enumerate the dimensions of trustworthiness the TRS asserts for a TRO, and to verify that each such assertion is warranted by the documented capabilities of the TRS. Our approach for describing, publishing, and working with TROs imposes no restrictions on how computational artifacts are packaged or otherwise shared, and aims to be interoperable with, rather than to replace, current and future Research Object standards, archival formats, and repository layouts. https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1019
spellingShingle Meng Li
Timothy McPhillips
Craig Willis
Nikolaus Parulian
Bertram Ludäscher
Kacper Kowalik
Lars Vilhuber
Thu-Mai Lewis
Mandy Gooch
TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
International Journal of Digital Curation
title TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
title_full TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
title_fullStr TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
title_full_unstemmed TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
title_short TROV - A Model and Vocabulary for Describing Transparent Research Objects
title_sort trov a model and vocabulary for describing transparent research objects
url https://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/1019
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