Registering an EOSC Node Service Catalogue with the EOSC EU Node: a step-by-step guide
Appendix C of Registration of EOSC Service Catalogues in the EOSC EU Node’s Resource Catalogue, version 7.2, explains how to enrol an EOSC Node and register its Service Catalogue through the EOSC EU Node Contributor Dashboard.
The procedure concerns catalogue registration: the EOSC EU Node harvests service descriptions from the catalogue and presents them in the Resource Hub as Tier 3 services. Direct onboarding of an individual service to the EOSC EU Node as a Tier 2 service follows a separate Service Onboarding workflow.
If your Node is already enrolled, proceed directly to Part 2.
Before you start
Prepare information about the organisation operating the Node, its coordinator and administrator, and the Service Catalogue’s name, description, contacts and technical endpoint. The registration interface shown in Appendix C requires information to be provided in English.
The main document and Appendices A–B also establish a technical prerequisite: the catalogue must expose service descriptions through a REST API that conforms to the Service Bundle schema. Completing the registration form does not replace implementing this interface.
Part 1. Enrolling the Node
Step 1. Open the Node draft — Manage Contributors.
The EOSC EU Node Onboarding Team creates the initial draft entry for your Node. You will then receive an email inviting you to complete enrolment.
Sign in to your User Space, open Manage Contributors, and locate the draft. Click the Node’s name or select Resume Application from its menu.
Step 2. Complete Basic Information.
Provide the Node’s Name, Abbreviation and Website, and indicate whether the Node is a Legal Entity. The name and abbreviation must follow the agreed Federation Node naming conventions.
You may optionally select the Node type: EU Wide, National, Regional or Thematic.
Click Next to continue. To save the draft and leave without submitting it, select Update Node.
Step 3. Complete the Profile.
Provide a description of the Node organisation of no more than 1,000 characters and a URL for its logo. The logo must follow the EOSC Federation Node design guidelines.
Step 4. Provide the Location.
Enter the organisation’s name, address, postal code, city and country. The region is optional.
Step 5. Identify the main Contact.
Provide the Node Coordinator’s first name, last name and email address. The coordinator must be a registered EOSC EU Node user.
Their telephone number and organisational position are optional.
Step 6. Check the administrator details — Users.
This step displays non-editable information about the administrator identified when the Onboarding Team created the draft application.
The administrator must have an active EOSC EU Node account. The coordinator and administrator may be the same person, but they are separate roles.
Step 7. Complete Acknowledgement and Acceptance.
Confirm your consent to storing the submitted information in the EOSC EU Node Catalogue services and displaying selected information in the Resource Hub following successful enrolment.
Step 8. Review and submit — Overview.
Check all information. To make changes, select the relevant step in the left-hand panel or use Edit.
Click Publish Node and confirm submission. The application will appear as Pending. After validation and acceptance by the EOSC EU Node Onboarding Team and the European Commission, its status will change to Enroled, using the spelling shown in the document’s interface.
Part 2. Registering the Service Catalogue
Step 9. Open the Node Dashboard.
In your User Space, use Switch profile next to your username and select your Node.
You can start registering the catalogue while the Node enrolment application is still Pending.
Open Resources, select Add Resource, and then Data Source. This launches the Create a Data Source wizard.
Step 10. Complete Basic Metadata.
Enter the Service Catalogue’s name, abbreviation and website address.
Use Save Data Source as Draft to save an unfinished application or Next to continue. The wizard identifies mandatory fields and shows the overall completion percentage in its left-hand panel.
Step 11. Add a user-oriented description — Marketing.
Provide a non-technical description and specify the catalogue’s language. Explain which services it brings together and whom they serve.
A short Tagline and a URL for the catalogue’s logo are optional.
Step 12. Complete Classification.
Select the catalogue’s Scientific Domain and Subdomain. Where no specific domain applies, use Other or Generic.
Use Add Scientific Categorization to add further domains. Tags are optional.
Step 13. Specify geographical coverage — Location.
Optionally select one or more geographical locations covered by the catalogue.
Step 14. Identify the catalogue Contact.
Enter the responsible person’s first name, last name and email address. This person must be a registered EOSC EU Node user.
Their telephone number, organisation and position are optional.
Step 15. Add certifications — Maturity.
If the catalogue has relevant certifications, select them. This step is optional.
Step 16. Provide support and security contacts — Management.
Enter the mandatory Helpdesk Email and Security Contact Email.
You may also provide URLs for the helpdesk page, user manual, terms of use, privacy policy, acceptable use policy and user access policy.
These details describe the catalogue being registered. Metadata describing its individual services are supplied through the catalogue API.
Step 17. Identify the source — Data Source Information.
Set Data Source Type to Services Metadata and select one or more Persistent Identity Systems used by the source.
You may optionally provide submission and preservation policy URLs and indicate whether version control applies.
Step 18. Describe the catalogue — Data Source Metadata.
Set Data Source Classification to Service Catalogue.
Complete the mandatory fields:
- Jurisdiction identifies the users the catalogue is intended to serve: Global, Institution, National or Regional.
- Thematic indicates whether the catalogue focuses on a particular theme, subject or domain.
In this form, Jurisdiction refers to the intended user community rather than simply the organisation’s legal jurisdiction.
You may optionally add access policies for related research products and information about their metadata licensing.
Step 19. Provide the technical endpoint and protocol.
In the continuation of Data Source Metadata, enter the catalogue’s Base URL and select Rest API as its protocol.
The endpoint must support the catalogue API implementation required by the document.
Additional fields cover metadata access policies, harvesting by other systems, OAI Sets and format. However, the service-catalogue exchange mechanism specified here uses REST API; an existing repository’s OAI-PMH interface does not replace this requirement.
Step 20. Complete Acknowledgement and Acceptance.
Confirm your consent to storing the submitted information in the EOSC EU Node Catalogue services and publishing selected information in the Resource Hub following successful onboarding.
Step 21. Review and submit — Overview.
Check the completed profile and use Edit where necessary.
Click Publish Data Source and confirm submission. The catalogue application will appear as Pending in the Node Dashboard’s Resources tab.
Step 22. Complete validation.
Following validation and acceptance by the EOSC EU Node Onboarding Team and the European Commission, the source will appear as Onboarded.
The main document explains that validation covers protocol implementation, metadata structure and semantics. If problems are identified, the responsible team receives feedback, makes corrections and completes further validation rounds.
After registration
Once the records have been harvested, check whether the services can be found in the Resource Hub, whether the correct Node is associated with them, and whether their external links and access descriptions work as intended.
The document specifies monthly harvesting, so changes to the local catalogue may not appear immediately in the Resource Hub.
For a prospective NASU Node, the outcome is a registered and validated catalogue with clear maintenance responsibilities. Resource Hub visibility supports service discovery; federated authentication, computing integration and shared research workflows require additional arrangements.
Source: Appendix C, printed pages 13–34. Technical prerequisites, validation and harvesting arrangements are clarified in the main document and Appendices A–B.