Project:HowToContribute Workflow

HOW TO
Contribute

Add a computational workflow to the MaRDI Knowledge Graph

The MaRDI Knowledge Graph captures not only publications and datasets, but also the computational workflows associated with them. A workflow in this context is a reproducible, script-based research process - for example, a set of scripts that reproduce the results of a paper. A workflow in MaRDI has two aspects: first, it is an item in the knowledge graph describing the workflow and its connections to other entities; second, it can optionally contain a RO-Crate file with the actual code and data needed to reproduce the workflow. An RO-Crate is a standardised packaging format for research objects that bundles together code, data, and metadata in a single archive.

Read more about the Reproducible Workflow concept here.

Part 1: Creating the workflow item

⏱ Time required: ~5 minutes

1	Create a new item On the MaRDI portal landing page, click New item in the blue menu at the top.
2	Enter the workflow name In the Label input field, enter the name of the workflow, e.g. `Reproduce table 1 from the paper "How to write numbers" by Graf Z. Ahl`. Then click the Create button.
3	Add the "instance of" property Scroll down to the Statements section and click + add statement. In the Property field, type `instance of` and select it from the autocomplete dropdown. In the value field to the right, enter `research workflow` and select research workflow from the appearing options. Click on Save
4	Add a second value to "instance of" Click + add value below the "instance of" property. In the new value field, type `script-based workflow` and select script-based workflow from the appearing options. Click on Save.
5	Add the "MaRDI profile type" property Click + add statement. In the Property field, type `MaRDI profile type` and select MaRDI profile type from the autocomplete dropdown. In the value field, enter `MaRDI workflow profile` and select MaRDI workflow profile from the appearing options. Click on Save.
6	Add the "problem statement" property Click + add statement. In the Property field, type `problem statement` and select problem statement from the autocomplete dropdown. In the value field, enter a short but clear description of what this workflow does. Click on Save.
7	Done — the workflow item has been created You can now close this page. The workflow item is saved in the MaRDI Knowledge Graph.

Optional: Link the workflow to a paper

The following steps only apply if the workflow is connected to an existing paper in the knowledge graph.

8

Copy the workflow's QID

Note or copy the QID of the newly created workflow item (visible at the top of the item page).

9

Open the connected paper

Navigate to the paper this workflow is connected to. Click the MaRDI QID badge at the top of the paper's portal page to open its item view.

10

Add the workflow as a cited work

Scroll down to the cites work property in the Statements section. (Or add the cites work statement, if it does not exist yet.) Click + add value at the end of that property's row. Type or paste the QID of the workflow and click on the matching entry that appears in the dropdown. Click on Save.

The workflow is now linked to the paper in the MaRDI Knowledge Graph.

Part 2: Uploading an RO-Crate file

If you have the actual code and data for the workflow, you can package and upload it as an RO-Crate archive and link it to the workflow item.

⏱ Time required: ~5 minutes

1	Create the RO-Crate archive Package your workflow code and data into a file named `rocrate.zip` following the RO-Crate specification.
2	Upload the archive Upload `rocrate.zip` to the MaRDI filesystem into the components sub-directory of the workflow item. The path follows the pattern `Qnnn/components/`, where `nnn` is the numeric part of the workflow's QID - for example `Q12345/components/`.
3	Add the "stored at" property On the workflow's item page, click + add statement. In the Property field, type `stored at` and select stored at from the autocomplete dropdown. In the value field, enter `MaRDI data store` and select the matching entry from the dropdown.
4	Add the qualifier Below the new "stored at" value, click + add qualifier. In the qualifier property field, type `FDO component id` and select it from the autocomplete dropdown. In the qualifier value field, enter `rocrate.zip`. Click save. The RO-Crate is now registered as a component of the workflow item in the MaRDI Knowledge Graph.

💡 Good to know

The QID of your workflow is visible at the top of the item page after creation.
RO-Crate is a standardised format - see researchobject.org for details.
The components sub-directory path is case-sensitive: use the exact QID as shown on the item page.