Implementation
These proposed checks and funding conditions accompany the minimum viable scientific record (MVR) and funder commitments.
Checking the MVR
| Requirement | Evidence from the recipient or operator | Independent audit | Response to failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persistent identity | Resolving identifiers for inputs, outputs, versions, contributors, organizations, and grants | Test a sample for resolution, ownership, version accuracy, and metadata completeness | Correct the record before award closure; repeated failure affects payment or eligibility |
| Stated relationships | Machine-readable links from each part of the record to what it depends on and what follows, including evidence, inputs, versions, reviews, verifications, validations, corrections, disputes, and reuse | Reconstruct a sample of chains from claims and outputs to their evidence and inputs, and test the stated relationships | Require correction of the links and their record format |
| Rights and consent | Machine-readable licenses, attribution, consent and access conditions, named authority, and permission process | Compare stated conditions with consent records, repository access, law, and community decisions | Correct metadata, restrict access where needed, and notify the relevant authority |
| Provenance and responsibility | Records of source materials, significant transformations, prior versions, who or what performed each step, and who is responsible | Reconstruct a sample of output histories and test who is recorded as performing and responsible for each step | Correct the record; investigate deliberate omission as integrity noncompliance |
| Checks | Identified checker, version examined, method, date, result, limitations, and expected checks not yet performed | Repeat a stratified sample of checks and publish error rates by provider | Correct or withdraw inaccurate check records; suspend providers that exceed agreed error limits |
| Portability | Documented interfaces, bulk export, schemas, identifiers, migration plan, and authorized content export | Reconstruct a sample record outside the originating service | Withhold renewal and finance migration when the operator cannot correct the failure |
Funder commitments
| Instrument | Responsible party | Condition | Audit | Consequence | Cost basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coordinated implementation program | Funder consortium and named service operators | Publish a community-governed specification with conformance tests, then adapt existing services and build new components that pass them to produce, verify, validate, exchange, and preserve the MVR | Conformance tests, independent tests using funded projects, and transfers between services | Development funding for a service depends on conformance; milestone payments and renewal depend on demonstrated operation and correction of material failures | Specification and conformance tests, initial development, integration, operation during implementation, training, and compensated participation |
| Grant conditions | Participating funders, adopting the conditions jointly, and each grant recipient | Add each material output to the MVR and make every output openly available without delay unless a recorded restriction applies | Automated portfolio checks and independent review of a stratified sample | Time to correct, then withheld final payment or denied renewal | Repositories, identifiers, curation, training, and technical help at no cost to researchers |
| Institutional assessment condition | Each funder and participating institution | Hiring, promotion, and assessment that use the record to recognize work on data, software, methods, curation, reviewing, replication, correction, and validation without relying on journal prestige or output counts | Review of policies, instructions, and a confidential sample of actual decisions | Corrective period, then suspension from designated institutional awards | Pilot of three to five institutions, with funded policy, training, and systems work |
| Infrastructure transition awards | Funder consortium and named infrastructure operators | Meet or be adopting the section 8.1 specification, and reach sustainable operating income while keeping community governance, open export, and transfer obligations | Conformance tests and milestone reviews of commitments, income, governance, and portability | Corrective plan, withheld renewal, and funded migration after repeated failure | Proposed planning range of 1 to 2 percent of annual research-grant value |