The Curation Tool, CDE Browser and Administration Tool have online help to guide you. All the caDSR tools are explained on caDSR Database and Tools.
Data Standards
Metadata Development Training
Best practices training for caDSR metadata creation is available. The NCI Training Wiki identifies the course offerings and provides links for more information and to enroll.
caDSR Context Administrators Monthly Meeting
The Context Administrators meet the second Monday of every month to discuss topics related to caDSR Content, including documentation of business rules and best practices for development and recording of metadata, harmonization of caDSR content, and adoption of data standards. The minutes of these meeting are posted at
Feedback about caDSR content is welcome on the caDSR Users List.
caDSR Content
A goal of the Cancer Data Standards Registry and Repository (caDSR) program is to define a comprehensive set of standardized metadata descriptors for cancer research data for use in information collection and analysis.
Various NCI offices and partner organizations have developed the content of the caDSR by registration of data elements based on data standards, data collection forms, databases, clinical applications, data exchange formats, UML models, and vocabularies.
Based on the ISO/IEC 11179 model for metadata registration, information about names, definitions, permissible values, and semantic concepts for common data elements (CDEs) have been recorded. caDSR tools are available to create, locate, and use the metadata to support finding and understanding research data.
Contexts-Contact Information
The metadata information in the caDSR is developed by groups or organizations divided into domain-specific work areas called Contexts. A Context Administrator for each group provides oversight for creation, maintenance, and designation of CDEs within the Context. A list of contact information for Context Administrators and Curators (doc) is available.
The current Contexts in the caDSR are listed below with the Context Administrator for each (updated 01/12/2017).
Context Name | Link to Website | Context Administrator |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Brain Tumor Consortium | ABTC | Mary Cooper (interim) |
| Yeshiva University Albert Einstein Cancer Center | AECC | |
| Alliance | Alliance | Corina Moreno |
| Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch | BBRB | Ping Guan |
| Breast Oncology Local Disease | BOLD | Jennifer Hayes |
BRIDG Collaboration | BRIDG | |
NCI Core Infrastructure | ||
NCI Center for Cancer Research | ||
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Public Health Information Network | CDC/PHIN | Denise Warzel |
NCI Cancer Imaging Program | ||
| Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network | CITN | Gwen Deen (interim) |
| Children's Oncology Group | COG | Steven Jong |
NCI Clinical Trial Evaluation Program | ||
| Duke Cancer Institute | DCI | Michael Leonard |
NCI Division of Cancer Prevention | ||
| Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group - Amercian College of Radiology Research Network | ECOG-ACRIN | ECOG - Janette Garrido ACRIN - Linsday Dymond |
NCI Early Detection Research Network | ||
| The Integrated Cancer Repository for Cancer Research | iCaRe2 | Gwen Deen |
Georgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center | ||
| NCI Molecular and Cellular Characterization | MCL | Kristen Anton |
| National Cancer Informatics Program | NCIP | Denise Warzel |
| Norton Healthcare - Norton Cancer Institute | NHC-NCI | |
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute | ||
| National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | NICHD | Mary Cooper |
| National Institute on Drug Abuse | NIDA | Brian Campbell |
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research | ||
| National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke | NINDS | Sherita Ala'i Hansen |
| NCI Network Rave Data Standards | NRDS | Denise Warzel |
| NRG Oncology Group (formerly GOG) | ||
| NCI Office of Cancer Genomics | OCG | Subhashini Jagu |
| Oregon Health and Science University | OHSU-Knight | Lara Fournier |
| NCI Office of National Coordinator SDC Project | ONC SDC Project | Denise Warzel |
| Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium | PBTC | Gwen Deen |
| Phenotypes and Exposures | PhenX | Helen Pan |
NCI Population Science and Cancer Control | Mary Cooper (interim) | |
NCI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence | ||
| SWOG | SWOG | Devin Hamid |
| Theradex | Theradex | |
| University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center | USC/Norris | Gwen Deen (interim) |
Business Rules and Best Practices
The Context Administrators have agreed to business rules for development of caDSR content. The rules outline best practices for creation, assignment of metadata statuses, and maintenance of the various metadata components.
Harmonization of caDSR Content
The Context Administrators work together to coordinate and harmonize metadata development efforts so common building blocks for data capture and reporting can be created. The goal is to ensure that shareable CDEs are not redundant across contexts and are based on the consensus of participating Contexts. To help minimize redundancy and duplication of CDEs across Contexts, the Context Administrators encourage reuse, or designation, of existing CDEs by other Contexts. Often an item is a candidate for reuse if minor edits can be made. If changes are needed to caDSR content, please contact the owning Context Curator.
NCI Data Standards
The NCI, together with its partners in the user community, is actively developing CDEs and standard vocabularies to be used as metadata descriptors for NCI-sponsored research and for caCORE-NCI applications. Workgroup and Content Meetings are regularly held to identify subject areas for standardization, develop CDEs and supporting documentation, and present proposed data standards to the user community for review. The data standards that have been adopted and those currently under review may be seen on the caBIG®-NCI Data Standards page.
