LAMAS 4 IC – Laboratory approved metadata acquisition schemas for ion chromatography

Metadata are necessary to describe scientific experiments. The use of metadata schemas enable the collection of structured and standardized metadata, supporting the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of the data and metadata in accordance with the FAIR data principles. This paper introduces the first metadata schemas for the analytical methods of anion and cation ion-exchange chromatography measurements. The developed schemas are aligned with the ASTM E1151:1993 norm defining terms and relationships in ion chromatography. They are implemented by using the common JSON schema standard and publicly shared for direct use and further refinement for various application fields of IC measurements. Approval of the schema in laboratory environments was achieved in the field of applied plasma science and two examples from different use cases of water analysis for plasma applications are represented. Through practical application, the introduced schemas have demonstrated their effectiveness in laboratory environments, marking a step forward in standardizing the documentation of IC measurements to support advanced research data management and the application of modern data science methods.