RSpace

Research Innovations Ltd (trading as Research Space)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

About

Launched: 2017
Record Updated: Dec 13, 2024
Authoring tool
Digital asset management system
RSpace is a comprehensive research platform that serves as an integrated research data management solution. At its core, it combines an electronic lab notebook with a modern, mobile-first sample management system, enabling researchers to capture, track, and associate data and metadata. While RSpace interfaces with institutional file systems, it goes beyond file management by offering rich content management capabilities. Through integrations with other research tools, the platform acts as a bridge across the research lifecycle, connecting planning phases to archiving/storage through seamless integration with external research resources. RSpace facilitates FAIR data principles by streamlining the flow of data and metadata throughout the research process. Its interconnected architecture enables researchers to manage their experimental data, samples, and documentation in one cohesive environment while maintaining connections to a broad ecosystem of research tools and storage systems.

Mission

Our mission is to enable a Research Data Commons of interoperable research tools across domains, facilitating machine actionable passage of data and metadata through all stages of the research lifecycle.

Key Achievements

1. After more than a year of intensive preparation, our engagement with the RDM community took a leap forward with the transition of RSpace to a fully open-source project in June 2024.
2. In 2024 we added three major institutional deployments: Ghent University, NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the University of Milano-Bicocca. Significantly, a major factor in each case in the university choosing RSpace was the support RSpace provides for an entire ecosystem of research tools through its multiple integrations, and the corresponding enhancement of the FAIR principles.
3. In 2024 we also made it possible to associate IGSN IDs with sample data in the RSpace Inventory (sample management) module. RSpace is the first and so far the only research tool to have developed support for IGSN IDs. We worked closely with DataCite on this project, and became a registered DataCite Service Provider, as well as a member of IGSN e.v., the IGSN governing body.

Technical Attributes

Maintenance Status

Actively Maintained

Open Code Repository

Implemented

Technical Documentation

Implemented

Code License

Implemented

Open API

Implemented

Open Product Roadmap

In Progress

Technical Attribute Statements

Programming Languages

  • java
  • typescript

Technology Readiness Level

  • Actual system proven in operational environment

Code Licenses Used

  • GNU General Public License (GPL)

Content Licensing

  • Creative commons licenses

Standards

Metadata

  • DataCite metadata schema
  • JSON
  • REST
  • XML Exchange Table Model Document Type Definition
Other:
RO-crate

Persistent Identifier

  • ORCiD
  • Research Organization Registry
Other:
IGSN

Security

  • ISO/IEC 27001 information security standard
  • SSAE 18/SOC 2 certification

Hosting Options

  • Through solution only

Integrations

  • DataCite
  • Dataverse
  • Dryad
  • Mendeley Data
  • Zenodo

Policies & Governance

Policies

Privacy Policy

Implemented

Web Accessibility Statement

In Progress

Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

Implemented

Policy Statements

Board Structure

Board of directors of UK limited company

Board Level

The board addresses routine reporting requirements and reviews strategic and financial matters.

Community Governance

  • None

Additional Information

Organizational History

https://www.researchspace.com/about

Organizational Structure

Business or Ownership Model

Commercial (for-profit)

Full-time Staff

11-20

Volunteers

0

Shareholders

Yes

Current Affiliations

No affiliations

Funding

Primary Funding Source

  • Program service revenue

Financial Reporting Level

  • Provider

Funding Needs

Research Space is financially self sufficient. We are able to gradually grow the team as revenue from sales increases and (assuming we continue to attract grant funding) through grants. We are not actively seeking investment. However, we would benefit from additional funding that would enable us to accelerate development of RSpace. There are increasing signals from the market/research community that RSpace has the potential to become the central fulcrum in an open research ecosytem that supports streamlined flows of data and metadata throughout the research lifecycle. Realizing this potential reasonably quickly requires accelerated development of RSpace. Community code contributions, which are already materializing, will help. Increasing in-house resources more rapidly would provide another key boost. So, we would be interested in engaging with investors who share our values, i.e. they believe in open source software, open science, and support for research communities.