Logo

Add an eLTER logo or a logo specific to the tool/software at the top of the README.md file.

eLTER logos can be found here.

Example:

<p align="center">
  <img src="assets/eLTER-IMAGE-eLTER_logo-v01.svg" alt="eLTER Project Logo" width="300" height="auto"/>
</p>

Repository title

Add a clear and concise title for your repository.

Badges

Optionally, add the badges of your repository. For example add the badge for the license and the programming languages used in the repository:

![](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-EUPL--1.2-orange)
![](https://img.shields.io/badge/R-v4.4.0-orange)
![](https://img.shields.io/badge/Python-3.12.0-orange)

Description

Brief description of the project including its objectives and what it achieves.

Table of Contents

Add a table of contents at the beginning of the README.md file.

• Installation and usage
• Coding style
• Data standards
• File naming nomenclature
• Reproducibility
• Contributing
• Authors
• License
• Citation
• Acknowledgments

Installation and usage

Instructions on how to use the software, including links to any required software and dependencies, and any necessary commands or scripts. Provide examples:

• On R, install the package tidyverse.

install.packages(tidyverse)

Coding style

To maintain the quality and readability of our code, we follow certain coding standards. Contributors are expected to adhere to these guidelines when writing code for this project:

R

• Our R code adheres to the tidyverse style guide. Key points include:
  • Name variables and functions in snake_case
  • Place spaces around all binary operators (=, +, -, <-, etc.), except in function arguments.
  • Always use <-, not =, for assignment.

Python

• We follow the PEP 8 style guide for Python code. This includes guidelines on code layout, naming conventions, and best practices.
• Use 4 spaces per indentation level.

Tools for enforcing style

• For Python, consider using tools like flake8 or black to automatically check and format code.
• For R, you can use the lintr package or RStudio's built-in code formatting capabilities.

Data standards

This project adheres to eLTER data standards. Please ensure all data complies with these standards and is deposited appropriately in Zenodo or B2SHARE repositories as per eLTER community guidelines.

File naming nomenclature

To ensure clarity and ease of access for all contributors, please adhere to the following file naming conventions:

• Use descriptive names that reflect the content or purpose of the file.
• Use hyphens (-) to separate different elements of the file name, and underscores (_) to denote spaces within an element.
• Keep file names concise, avoiding unnecessary abbreviations while maintaining sufficient detail.
• Include the project identifier (i.e. eLTER) name at the beginning of the files when possible.
• Include a version number at the end of the file name such as v01 for input files (in assets folder). Change this version number each time the file is modified.
• Include an identifier of what the file is on the file name (e.g. CODE, DATA, METADATA, IMAGE...).
• Examples:
  • eLTER-IMAGE-PPP_logo-v01.jpeg
  • eLTER-DATA-temperature_sensor_data-v01.csv

File naming convention should be follow as much as possible and it is mandatory for files in assets folder.

Reproducibility

Ensure the reproducibility of your work by:

• Providing detailed descriptions of methods and protocols in the documentation.
• Including version-controlled source code for all scripts and analysis workflows.
• Specifying versions and sources of external libraries and tools used.
• Sharing raw data and processed results in accessible, referenced data repositories with clear metadata.
• Documenting any deviations from the expected protocols.

Contributing

The repository should have clear instructions on how to contribute to the project. This should include different files with clear instructions. To do so, add a folder named .github on the project root. In this folder you should add the following files:

• CONTRIBUTING.md
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
• ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
• BUG_REPORT.md
• FEATURE_REQUEST.md

Authors

List of contributors to the project. Include ORCID to uniquely identify contributors and the Research Organization Registry (ROR) for the institution.

Author	Affiliation	ORCID	e-mail
Allan T. Souza	University of Helsinki	0000-0002-1851-681X	[email protected]

Optionally, you can also add the authors faces with the link to their GitHub accounts. To do so, you can add the a code like the one below on the README.md file:

[//]: contributor-faces

<a href="https://github.com/allantsouza"><img src="https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/51362002?v=4" title="Allan T. Souza" width="70" height="70"></a>

[//]: contributor-faces

To find the URL of your the avatar, you can query using the GitHub API, like in this example:

https://api.github.com/search/users?q=Allan+T+Souza+in%3Ausername

License

Describe the license used in the project and include a file named LICENSE in the root of the repository:

• This project is licensed under the EUPL License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Citation

Add a file containing the citation information on the repository root folder. The file should be named CITATION.cff. More information about Citation File Format (cff) files can be found here. Below there is an example of the contents of a generic CITATION.cff file:

cff-version: 1.2.0
message: "If you use this repository, please cite it as below."
title: "eLTER boilerplate readme"
version: 1.0.0
year: 2024
authors:
  - family-names: "Souza"
    given-names: "Allan T."
    orcid: "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-681X"
    affiliation: "Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland"
license: EUPL-1.2
url: "https://github.com/eLTER-RI/boilerplate-readme"

Acknowledgments

Add the funding acknowledgment for eLTER PPP, eLTER PLUS, and/or eLTER EnRich.