Open Scientific Collections Austria (OSCA)—from concept to workflows

1 Open Scientific Collections Austria (OSCA)—from concept to workflows Frederike Korth1, Heimo Rainer1, Cristian-Dan Bara1, Nedim Begic1, Nora Bses2, Peter Bilovitz3, Christian Bräuchler4, Davide Di Franco5, Aylin Durmaz6, Roland K. Eberwein7, Simon Engelberger8, Daniela Festi5, J. Georg Friebe9, Martin Götzl10, Dominique Groffman6, Anette Herburger9, Peter Kaufmann11 , Stefan Kwitt11 , Evelyn Kustatscher12 , Ronald Lintner13, Michael Malicky4, Konrad Pagitz14 , Nikolaus Schallhart14 , Astrid Scharfetter3, Nikolaus Szucsich1, Andreas Tribsch6, Romed Unterasinger12 , Hermann Voglmayr8, Anna E. Weinmann1, Kurt Zernig15 , Katrin Vohland1 1 Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria 2 BOKU University – University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria 3 University of Graz, Graz, Austria 4 OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, Linz, Austria 5 GeoSphere Austria, Vienna, Austria 6 University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria 7 Carinthian State Museum, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria 8 University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria 9 inatura Erlebnis Naturschau GmbH, Dornbirn, Austria 10 Umweltbundesamt, Vienna, Austria 11 Haus der Natur - Museum für Natur und Technik, Salzburg, Austria 12 Tyrolean State Museums, Innsbruck, Austria 13 State Collections of Lower Austria, St. Pölten, Austria 14 University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria 15 State Museum of Styria, Graz, Austria Corresponding author: Katrin Vohland ([email protected]) Copyright: © Frederike Korth et al. This is an open access article distributed under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution 4.0 International – CC BY 4.0). Forum Paper Abstract The Open Scientific Collections Austria (OSCA) consortium consists of 14 museums, universities, and scientific institutions in Austria holding outstanding scientific collections. These collections document Earth’s biological and geological diversity and serve as essential resources for research on global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental change. Despite recent advances in digitization, large portions of collection data remain inaccessible due to limited funding and technical capacity. OSCA aims to mobilize, harmonize, and provide Austria’s natural science collection data based on the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). By building a shared infrastructure, the consortium fosters collaboration among institutions and ensures the long-term preservation and accessibility of valuable scientific data. This paper outlines the structure and objectives of the OSCA consortium, introduces its participating institutions, and presents its cooperative model and data infrastructure. Unlocking Austria’s natural science collections and metadata by integrating them into an interconnected virtual information system transforms them into a dynamic and powerful research tool. This approach enhances the visibility and usability of Austria’s scientific heritage and enables interdisciplinary research with significant scientific, societal, and economic relevance. Academic editor: Stefano Dominici Received: 21 August 2025 Accepted: 5 November 2025 Published: 13 November 2025 Natural History Collections and Museomics 2: 1–21 (2025) DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 2 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria Key words: Curation, digitization, DiSSCo, museum collections, natural history collections Introduction Natural history collections provide essential documentation of the past and current state of bioand geodiversity and the origin of the Earth system itself. Such scientific infrastructures allow for addressing current global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainable food production, and ecosystem conservation, as well as improving human health and security (Meineke et al. 2019; Bakker et al. 2020; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020). Even though the first two decades of the twenty-first century have seen a rapid increase in the mobilization of digital biodiversity data, much of the information contained in collections housed in natural history museums and other research institutions is still largely inaccessible, despite their enormous potential value to society (Johnson et al. 2023). Digitizing these collections and working toward the goal of internationally cataloged and accessible digitized collections make data of geological and biological diversity accessible, searchable, retainable, and interactive. However, this digital transformation is constrained by limited funding, lack of training for personnel, restrictive governance structures, and limited technical and infrastructural resources (Vollmar et al. 2010; Singun 2025). As a matter of fact, a major part of the natural science collections worldwide is still not digitized (Vollmar et al. 2010). Digitization of natural science collections entails converting physical specimens and their associated metadata into digital formats that can be stored, accessed, analyzed, and shared electronically. Establishing clear prioritization criteria is essential for managing this process effectively (Krishtalka et al. 2016; Bakker et al. 2018). Digitization also allows remote access to institutional holdings for those for whom collections have generally been out of reach (Drew et al. 2017). Typically, digitization begins with the recording of metadata, followed by imaging—capturing high-resolution photographs or scans of specimens, labels, and related documentation. While not every specimen is imaged, associated information is entered into digital databases. In most cases, data are gathered and distributed under Darwin Core (DwC, https://dwc.tdwg.org/) and ABCD standards (https://abcd.tdwg.org/) (Blum et al. 2019) and can be made publicly accessible through platforms like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, https://www.gbif.org/) or institutional databases. In Austria, museums, universities, and other institutions preserve a unique heritage of over 56 million natural history specimens from all over the Earth and even from space. In addition to the major museums and universities, local, often smaller museums and other institutions like monasteries house biological, paleontological, geological-mineralogical, or archaeological collections. While some of the collections have a long history that dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries, others include modern specimens. There is great potential for providing new information for many research questions, e.g., in an ecological, socio-economic, or cultural context (Kapun et al. 2025). However, this unique research infrastructure is not yet sufficiently digitally accessible. The vision of seeing natural science collections as one integrated infrastructure rather than as isolated institutional holdings opens up transformative opportunities across Citation: Korth F, Rainer H, Bara C-D, Begic N, Bses N, Bilovitz P, Bräuchler C, Di Franco D, Durmaz A, Eberwein RK, Engelberger S, Festi D, Friebe JG, Götzl M, Groffmann D, Herburger A, Kaufmann P, Kwitt S, Kustatscher E, Lintner R, Malicky M, Pagitz K, Schallhart N, Scharfetter A, Szucsich N, Tribsch A, Unterasinger R, Voglmayr H, Weinmann AE, Zernig K, Vohland K (2025) Open Scientific Collections Austria (OSCA)— from concept to workflows. Natural History Collections and Museomics 2: 1–21. https://doi. org/10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 3 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria research, innovation, governance, and the future economy (Schindel and Cook 2018; Arvanitidis et al. 2025). Digitized, standardized, and interconnected collections enable large-scale, interdisciplinary studies on biodiversity, climate change, ecosystem services, and evolution. In 2006, a group of Austrian curators of natural history collections initiated efforts to promote the digitization of their holdings, building on their involvement in publishing biodiversity data through GBIF Austria (https://www.gbif. at/home/). As an initial step, a nationwide survey of Austrian natural history collections was conducted. This survey gathered information on the number of specimens and the extent of existing digital records and provided a preliminary cost estimate for the complete digitization of all collections. Based on these results, 12 institutions came together in 2008 to establish the Austrian Digitization Initiative of Natural Science Collections (ODINS). The initiative aimed to coordinate digitization efforts across institutions, apply and further develop internationally recognized standards, and raise awareness among potential funding bodies regarding the scientific and societal relevance of digitized natural history collections. Although the aim of financing such digitization was not achieved, collaboration between institutions and the exchange of expertise among collection managers continued and intensified. Due to the involvement of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHMW) in scientific networks such as the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF, https://cetaf.org/) and as a mini-partner in the Distributed System of Scientific Collections Prepare Project (DiSSCo Prepare), a preparatory project for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections Research Infrastructure (DiSSCo, https://www.dissco.eu/), regular meetings were held to share international developments with the Austrian community. DiSSCo is a world-class research infrastructure for natural science collections, aiming to digitally unify all European natural science assets under a shared framework of access, curation, policies, and practices, while ensuring compliance with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) (Hardisty et al. 2020; Koureas et al. 2024). These meetings fostered community building and culminated in the formation of the Open Scientific Collections Austria (OSCA, https://osca.science/) consortium in 2021, initially with 12 founding members. Currently, 14 institutions, including museums and universities housing natural scientific collections throughout Austria, are members. OSCA’s overarching objective is to compile, integrate, and disseminate knowledge about Austria’s natural science collections through their systematic digitization. To ensure proper long-term conservation and future reuse of the collections, OSCA is developing a standardized infrastructure for natural science collection management. Within a three-year funding period (2022–2024) provided by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS), the consortium has been able to gather and share knowledge regarding the digitization of objects and their associated metadata by establishing workflows and conducting joint pilot studies at participating institutions. The data are available through the OSCA portal (https://osca.science/portal/). Additionally, members of the OSCA consortium have made significant progress in expanding and harmonizing collection databases between institutions and have played a leading role in the development of the Herbarium Management System JACQ (https://jacq. org/; Bräuchler et al. 2021). Consequently, a five-year funding period from the 4 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) started in 2025, enabling the participation of Austria in the European infrastructure DiSSCo and the continuation of OSCA as an Austrian support and coordination structure for DiSSCo. Austria’s participation in DiSSCo will increase the findability of its natural science collections, aligned with the European vision of establishing collections as central infrastructure for data-driven scientific excellence and innovation in biodiversity and environmental research. This paper presents the development of the OSCA consortium, describes its structure, objectives, participating institutions, and cooperation framework, and outlines the data infrastructure that is being established to mobilize and harmonize Austria’s scientific collections in accordance with the FAIR principles. The consortium The consortium unites 14 institutions, including federal museums, state museums, and universities, to establish concerted standards for digitizing their collections (https://osca.science/partner/, Table 1). In 2021, an inventory was carried out among the 12 founding OSCA institutions to assess the current status of digitization and the proportion of existing digital records within their collections. Together, these natural science collections hold over 56 million objects (Fig. 1). However, the majority of these objects lack any digital record, making them invisible to both scientists and the public. In 2021, around 15 million objects were digitally inventoried (28%), and images were available for nearly 700,000 objects (1%; Fig. 2). It is important to note that several other natural science collections in Austria were not included in the survey, meaning that the total number of specimens is even higher. In 2025, GeoSphere Austria, which holds one of the country’s most important paleontological collections—with approximately 160,000 records and an estimated several million fossils—joined OSCA. These numbers are not included in the 2021 survey. The Austrian network of natural science collections committed to digitization and open access continues to grow, with the addition of BOKU University to OSCA in 2025, alongside GeoSphere Austria. Table 1. Overview of the institutions participating in OSCA, including their ROR identifiers. Institution Federal State ROR ID Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW, Natural History Museum Vienna) Vienna https://ror.org/01tv5y993 inatura - Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn Vorarlberg https://ror.org/04s36wq82 Tiroler Landesmuseen (Tyrolean State Museums) Tyrol https://ror.org/010nd4p40 Haus der Natur - Museum für Natur und Technik Salzburg https://ror.org/00hn7pt27 Universität Innsbruck (University of Innsbruck) Tyrol https://ror.org/054pv6659 Universität Salzburg (University of Salzburg) Salzburg https://ror.org/05gs8cd61 Oberösterreichische Landes-Kultur GmbH Upper Austria https://ror.org/025t7k891 Landessammlungen Niederösterreich (State Collections of Lower Austria) Lower Austria https://landessammlungen-noe.at/de/home.html Universalmuseum Joanneum (State Museum of Styria) Styria https://ror.org/00nxtmb68 Universität Graz (University of Graz) Styria https://ror.org/01faaaf77 Landesmuseum für Kärnten (Carinthian State Museum) Carinthia https://ror.org/04cj0jk63 Universität Wien (University of Vienna) Vienna https://ror.org/03prydq77 Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU University) Vienna https://ror.org/057ff4y42 GeoSphere Austria Vienna https://ror.org/0181cy234 5 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria Participating institutions Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NHMW, Natural History Museum Vienna) The NHMW, in its present form, was founded in 1876 and is one of the largest museums and non-university research institutions in Austria, as well as an important center of excellence for all matters relating to natural science. The museum’s 39 exhibition rooms cover 8,460 m² and present more than 100,000 objects. The museum houses nearly 30 million objects available to more than 60 scientists, including curators and numerous guest researchers, who conduct basic research across a broad spectrum of topics related to human, earth, and life sciences (Jovanovic-Kruspel 2015). It includes objects from anthropology, botany, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, prehistory, and zoology (Bräuchler et al. 2021; Mikschi et al. 2023). The collections feature objects from all continents and oceans, with a special focus on Austria (Vohland et al. 2025). The different collection database management solutions are being replaced by an overarching new system (https://divina.nhm.at/home; Vohland 2025). The NHMW is a member of CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities) and EOSC-SOA (European Science Cloud – Support Office Austria, https://eosc-austria.at/) and is a partner in various EU-funded projects such as TETTRIs – Transforming European Taxonomy through Training, Research and Innovations (https://tettris.eu/), Skills4EOSC (https://www.skills4eosc.eu/), and FAIRiCUBE – F.A.I.R. Information Cubes (https://fairicube.nilu.no/). The NHMW houses the Figure 1. Expert-based estimate of the number of collection objects (2021). Note that at the State Collections of Lower Austria, the insect drawers receive an inventory number (approx. 3,800 drawers) rather than the individual insects (approx. 500,000 insects). In the survey, the drawers were counted, not the specimens. 6 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria coordination team of the Austrian Barcode of Life (ABOL, https://www.abol. ac.at/), a national biodiversity initiative that aims to characterize and study all Austrian species of animals, plants, and fungi, with a particular emphasis on DNA (meta-)barcoding approaches. In addition, the NHMW established the Kulturpool (https://kulturpool.at/), a portal for digitized cultural heritage of Austria and, at the same time, a competency center. inatura – Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn The inatura is the natural history museum of the Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg. Founded as a private collection and museum by the factory owner Siegfried Fussenegger in 1927 (Privatmuseum Fussenegger, from 1939 onwards Schau der Naturgeschichte Vorarlbergs), it became a public museum when purchased by the City of Dornbirn and the State of Vorarlberg in 1958. At this time, the natural history collections of the Vorarlberger Landesmuseum in Bregenz (now vorarlberg museum) were transferred to Dornbirn and united with the Fussenegger collection in the new museum Vorarlberger Naturschau. The museum again changed its name to inatura when it moved into a former foundry in 2003. Its collections include approximately 370,000 objects from botany, geology, mineralogy, mycology, paleontology, and zoology. Most of these objects originate from Vorarlberg; however, the museum also hosts biological Figure 2. Expert-based estimate of the percentage of digitally cataloged and inventoried objects (dark blue) and the percentage of digital copies (images) of the objects (light blue) from 2021. 7 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria objects from surrounding regions as well as a formerly private collection of fossils from the Swiss Jura region. Although nearly all the earth science collection and the majority of biological objects are recorded in a digital inventory database (BioOffice, https://biooffice.org/), the level of photographic documentation remains rather low. Tiroler Landesmuseen (Tyrolean State Museums) The natural history collections of the Tiroler Landesmuseen are located in the Collection and Research Center (SFZ) in the city of Hall near Innsbruck. In the Collection Strategy 2025, it was estimated that the collections contain about 3.5 million specimens, including approximately 350,000 in the botanical collection, around 3.1 million specimens in the zoological collection, 27,000 fossils, and 18,500 rocks and minerals. For about 20 years, the main focus has been on inventorying and recording metadata (observations and preserved specimens) in an in-house database (BioOffice). In addition to the permanent staff, numerous volunteers have provided invaluable contributions, especially to collection work. As of 2024, the BioOffice records 3,038,708 zoological, 1,740,153 botanical, and 6,447 geological/mineralogical data sets, plus 31,294 literature data sets. Another focus is the scientific indexing of the collections through revision work, which is particularly time-consuming given the extensive material. These scientific revisions include parts of the beetle, bug, butterfly, and other insect collections, as well as the botanical and mineralogical/geological collections. The data from the natural science collections are used for national (GBIF Austria, Biodiversitätsatlas Österreich) and international databases (GBIF). These comprise a total of 481,150 datasets, 42,436 of which were added in 2024. The data from the Tyrolean State Museums are also used for the TIRIS data portal (https://maps.tirol.gv.at/, in the protected area) of the Tyrolean Provincial Government. A total of 1,455,344 data from botany, entomology (butterflies and beetles), ornithology, and mammals were entered here in 2024. Haus der Natur – Museum für Natur und Technik The Haus der Natur is a museum of natural sciences with a regional and international focus. It has established itself as a nature competence center for the city and province of Salzburg. The physical collections at the Haus der Natur include objects from biology, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, and speleology, a cultural-historical collection, and a library. The biological collections include an entomological collection, the herbarium SZB, a malacological collection, and a vertebrate collection. The collections and associated metadata are managed in several databases (Salzburg Biodiversity Database, Mineralogical Database of the Hohe Tauern National Park). In total, there are currently an estimated 900,000 objects in the collections. Of these, 700,000 are biological objects, of which around 260,000 are recorded digitally (at MIDS Level 2, https://www.tdwg.org/community/cd/mids/) in the database. Around 80% of the recorded specimens originate from Austria and 70% from the province of Salzburg. Observational data without physical evidence are also recorded in the 8 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria database. A cooperation between the Haus der Natur and the Dutch Observation International Foundation has made it possible to record biological distribution data using smartphones (https://observation.org/). After validation, the data are transferred to the biodiversity database, which has led to a substantial increase in data volume. The Salzburg Biodiversity Database currently comprises 3 million data records on more than 36,000 different taxa. All biological data are transferred to international and national networks (GBIF, Biodiversity Atlas Austria, https://biodiversityatlas.at/), continuously updated, and made publicly available. Data are managed in accordance with the FAIR principles. Universität Innsbruck (University of Innsbruck) The University of Innsbruck is the largest research institution in western Austria. Its holdings also include natural science collections. The approximately 230,000 objects are distributed across various faculties and departments and include earth science, pharmaceutical, zoological, and botanical collections. With more than 10,000 predominantly botanical objects from around the world, the Dittrichiana pharmaceutical history collection is one of the most extensive of its kind in the German-speaking area. The 18,000 objects in the earth science collections include paleontological specimens, minerals, and rocks. The botanical collections contain approximately 200,000 objects, including 140,000 herbarium specimens, pollen type collections, and collections of plants, macrofossils, and seeds. In addition, there are living collections (algae approximately 1,000 isolates) and the botanical garden. The material comes from all parts of the world, though the focus is on Austria and the Alps. The current degree of digitization varies greatly. The earth science and pharmaceutical collections are largely digitized (internal files and mostly photos). About 75% of the herbarium collection has been digitized (metadata, internal database). The objects are made available for scientific research. Universität Salzburg (University of Salzburg – Herbarium SZU) The University of Salzburg Herbarium (SZU) is the active botanical research collection for the Department of Environment and Biodiversity, situated within the Botany Division and serving as both a repository and a resource for faculty and students of Evolution and Systematics of Plants. It cares for more than 100,000 vouchers collected by and for the university’s researchers, the majority of which were gathered since the modernization of the university in the mid-20th century. Holdings include a sizable vascular plant collection (ca. 70,000), a lichen collection (ca. 15,000), a bryophyte collection (ca. 15,000), and a carpological collection (ca. 5,000). The Herbarium SZU primarily focuses on the flora of the European Alps but also includes collections from other European and Asian mountains, featuring high alpine lichens, orchids, and steppe plants. SZU also stewards an expanding silica (dried plant tissue) collection and a DNA bank (ca. 4,000) as part of the Austrian Barcode of Life (ABOL) initiative, which records the genetic diversity of Austria’s flora. SZU provides facilities and expertise to support other institutions in the consortium in collection-based DNA reference 9 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria barcoding of plants. As a research herbarium with access to the molecular laboratories of the University of Salzburg, the Herbarium SZU is part of multiple national and European consortia of natural history collections providing biodiversity data to numerous infrastructure programs such as GBIF, BOLD (Barcode of Life Data Systems, https://boldsystems.org/), and JACQ Virtual Herbaria. As a member of OSCA and now DiSSCo, the Herbarium SZU provides frameworks for generating curated molecular sequence data directly linked to collection data in online and accessible formats to advance biodiversity research. Oberösterreichische Landes-Kultur GmbH The Oberösterreichische Landes-Kultur GmbH (OÖLKG) was formed in Upper Austria in 2020 through the merger of the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum and Kulturquartier. Its collections and research cover a broad range in both geographic focus and disciplinary scope—from regional to global, and from modern arts to history, biology, and geology. In addition to being part of the national OSCA consortium, the OÖLKG is also a member of CETAF at the European level. At the Biodiversity Center Upper Austria (BCUA, biological collections) and at the depot of the geosciences collections, the OÖLKG houses the second-largest natural history collections in Austria. Thirteen scientists curate more than 15 million objects in botany (vascular plants 850,000; mosses 140,000; lichens 160,000; fungi 50,000; algae 3,000), vertebrates (more than 45,000), invertebrates (insects 5,500,000; molluscs 6,500,000; arthropods 1,500,000; protists [technically not invertebrates] 500,000), and geosciences (more than 60,000 fossils, with a focus on vertebrates and cephalopods). Only a small portion of the objects is currently displayed in the natural history exhibitions at the Schlossmuseum Linz. The 1,300 m² permanent exhibition “Nature in Upper Austria” will soon be expanded by another 1,000 m² to present the collections and the research of the scientific staff to the public. Serving as the main contact for biodiversity-related matters at the regional level, the BCUA is also an important hub for biodiversity data aggregation and publication. With more than 6,900,000 datasets in the ZOBODAT database (https://www.zobodat.at/), it is Austria’s top provider for GBIF. While strongly connected to conservation biology practitioners in the region, BCUA scientists and collections also contribute to addressing biodiversity loss at the European and global levels. Landessammlungen Niederösterreich (State Collections of Lower Austria) The State Collections of Lower Austria are responsible for a unique collection of more than 6 million museum objects pertaining to the cultural and natural history of Lower Austria, acting on behalf of the Department of Arts and Culture of the Office of the Lower Austria Federal Government. Comprising twelve departments, the State Collections include the fields of cultural history, archaeology, art, and nature. The collections’ main focus is the Federal Province of Lower Austria—its culture and nature. The natural history collection comprises around 600,000 objects and combines the fields of earth sciences, zoology, 16 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria well as in European and international databases (Fig. 4). Currently, the portal enables integrated searches across OSCA data as well as through DiSSCo (https:// disscover.dissco.eu), Europeana (https://www.europeana.eu), GBIF (https:// www.gbif.org), and GeoCase (https://geocase.eu). The portal also enables connectivity to other databases, such as DNA sequence records available on the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) through the incorporation of stable links. Value proposition and future directions The OSCA platform currently provides Austrian institutions, particularly those that have not yet established international data publication workflows, with a reliable framework to publish their digital specimen data. By ensuring high data quality, standardization, and long-term preservation, OSCA supports both national research and global collaboration. One of OSCA’s core strengths lies in its ability to form a heterogeneous network of institutions—from large museums to smaller, specialized collections— across both the biological and earth sciences. Beyond aggregation, the consortium actively addresses technical and organizational barriers, particularly for smaller institutions. By providing practical support such as training workshops, documentation, and technical assistance, OSCA lowers the threshold for participation and fosters a collaborative data culture within the Austrian natural science community. Future developments will focus on further simplifying Figure 3. Overview of the OSCA data flow. The diagram illustrates the process by which data from Austrian institutions—undergoing digitization of their natural history collections—are made publicly available through national platforms (GBIF AT, Biodiversitätsatlas AT, and the OSCA portal) and European infrastructures (DiSSCo). In addition, individual institutions provide their data directly to GBIF. Blue lines represent the data flows established through OSCA, while gray lines indicate existing data flows managed by individual institutions and the data aggregator at the Oberösterreichische Landes-Kultur GmbH. 17 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria data submission processes, including the rollout of a user-friendly interface designed to accommodate contributors with limited technical capacity. Integration with DiSSCo through the OSCA Cache will further streamline the flow of data to European infrastructures. OSCA will continue to expand its service offerings to support partners and enhance accessibility, ensuring long-term sustainability and increased impact of Austrian natural science collections in both national and international contexts. Conclusion Over the last 25 years, natural science collections have increasingly been recognized as a vast, distributed infrastructure for research and discovery, essential for advancing our understanding of the evolution of life and providing a source of baseline data for research, from human and animal health to environmental and climate change (Bakker et al. 2020). This global recognition has led to a vast and growing demand for Austrian natural science collections to mobilize their data. However, the majority of objects still lack any digital record, making them invisible to scientists and the public. Therefore, a central objective of OSCA is to advance the digitization of Austria’s scientific collections. The digitization of the Austrian natural science collections is a process that has been ongoing for years. Achieving this requires an enormous digitization effort, and prioritization criteria are necessary to manage this effort. Sustained progress will depend on securing long-term funding from national, European, Figure 4. A screenshot of the OSCA portal displaying unified search results for “Braya.” The search sources can be enabled or disabled according to the user’s preferences. The search results display a minimum of cataloging information and essential links to original references. The OSCA data (depicted in orange) show the available data in Darwin Core format. 18 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria and international funding bodies. By bringing the institutions together, sharing knowledge on topics related to the digital transformation of Austria’s natural science collections within the consortium, and building a common infrastructure, Austria is advancing toward its goal to digitally open its collections and make them visible, accessible, and usable. Even though there is still a long way to go until the Austrian natural science collections are completely digitized and accessible, the readiness of the OSCA institutions has increased over the past few years through knowledge sharing on digitization and by starting to build a centralized data pipeline that efficiently aggregates specimen data from Austrian institutions. Acknowledgments We thank the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Public Services and Sports (BMKOES) for the financial support received during the first phase (2022–2024), now the Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS), and since 2025 the Austrian Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF), formerly the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). Their support helped pave the way to make Austria a relevant member in the joint development of the European research infrastructure DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections). We also thank the two reviewers, as well as our section editor, Stefano Dominici, whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. Additional information Conflict of interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Ethical statement No ethical statement was reported. Use of AI No use of AI was reported. Funding This work was supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Public Services and Sports (BMKOES) Austrian Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS) Austrian Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) Author contributions Conceptualization: KV, HR. Data curation: CDB, FK, NB. Formal analysis: NB. Funding acquisition: KV, HR. Methodology: NB, CDB, HR. Project administration: FK. Software: NB, CDB. Supervision: KV, HR, FK. Visualization: CDB, NB, FK. Writing - original draft: RL, NUS, PB, HV, EK, PK, SE, KZ, KV, RU, AT, AEEW, FK, CDB, NB, KP, NB, CB, DDF, RKE, DF, JGF, SK, MM, NS, AS, AD, MG, DG, AH. Writing - review and editing: FK. 19 NHCM 2: 1–21 (2025), DOI: 10.3897/nhcm.2.169440 Frederike Korth et al.: Open Scientific Collections Austria Author ORCIDs Frederike Korth https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7370-4135 Heimo Rainer https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5963-349X Cristian-Dan Bara https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3991-104X Nedim Begic https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0477-2057 Nora Bses https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0324-4470 Peter Bilovitz https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9845-2416 Christian Bräuchler https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6176-1669 Davide Di Franco https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4595-839X Aylin Durmaz https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6449-4917 Roland K. Eberwein https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-216X Simon Engelberger https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6344-2338 Daniela Festi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1250-4815 J. Georg Friebe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1468-6002 Dominique Groffman https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5040-3364 Peter Kaufmann https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2611-5071 Stefan Kwitt https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8347-8461 Evelyn Kustatscher https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0300-0175 Michael Malicky https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8001-1410 Konrad Pagitz https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0536-1708 Nikolaus Schallhart https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9477-9251 Astrid Scharfetter https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9477-9251 Nikolaus Szucsich https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8945-5153 Andreas Tribsch https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5081-1675 Romed Unterasinger https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2571-6326 Hermann Voglmayr https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7666-993X Anna E. Weinmann https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7999-0486 Kurt Zernig https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0429-044X Katrin Vohland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-7015 Data availability All of the data that support the findings of this study are available in the main text. 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