**Recommendation 4.2 **

Recommendation to Sample curators to train staff in handling IGSN

Description

Status:

Motivation for this Recommendation:

Sample curators are well-positioned to take a leading role in promoting the use of IGSNs, as they possess the expertise and oversight necessary to ensure high-quality sample documentation. By actively encouraging and training researchers, technicians, and other staff to register IGSNs and record sample relationships, curators help establish consistent practices across projects and departments. This not only reduces the risk of metadata loss or inconsistency but also strengthens the traceability and reproducibility of research. Empowering a broader group of staff to apply IGSNs correctly supports long-term stewardship of sample records and ensures that sample-based data can be reliably reused, cited, and linked to other research outputs.

Recommendation

It is recommended, that sample curators:

Enable, train and encourage staff, including researchers, technicians, and other people who take samples, split samples or create subsamples to register IGSN to be able to identify these samples where appropriate.

Enable, train and encourage staff, including researchers, technicians, and other people who split samples or create other types of subsamples to record any parent IGSNs with these subsamples.

To answer - Who exactly are sample curators? Where to do this?

Binding Convention:

mandatory	conditional	optional
Helmholtz FAIR Principle

Precondition for Implementation:

Related Recommendations

Parent: M4.0 Recommendation to use IGSN as the standard reference in technical infrastructures to samples where appropriate

Dependent: none

Other: none

Contributors

Names of contributors to this recommendation

Content

1. Explanation of the Background and Benefits of the Recommendation

About

History and structure

Current Use of …

Motivation

2. Possible alternative solutions

3. Consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the recommendation

See the general discussion of advantages and challenges implementing IGSNs in the recommended way.

4. The Recommendation

[Format: Wer! macht was! wo! wann! unter welchen Voraussetzungen!]

5. Naming of communities that have already implemented the recommendation

6. Documentation of the test to validate correct implementation

7. Examples of Instances

8. Further Information

References

Relevant Community Recommendations

9. History of this document