Building an open-source collaborative platform for migration research: A metadata modeling approach using XML

Public access to well-organized migration data repositories is rare. While open migration data are available, most are dispersed, challenging their organization. This work uses a metadata modeling approach to organize migration-related data and research components hosted in an open-source, collaborative research environment. The proposed platform integrates data, computational models, application libraries, and research projects in a unified environment for research. An overview of the metadata modeling process and the XML technology used to integrate the platform components was provided, along with descriptions of the platform's essential features, such as standardized exchange of information for data organization and sharing and collaborative authoring. The design of a prototype collaborative, open-source migration data and modeling research platform using sample data and software components was built and hosted on GitHub for testing and refinement purposes. It allows the authors to collaborate, improve, and assess the platform's functionalities and capabilities. Our platform, COSMOS (Collaborative Open-Source Modeling System), adopted the creation and use of open data formats for alignment with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles to ensure that data at the prototype level is consistent with and can be used by the international migration research community in the future. By providing a standardized framework for data organization, data sharing, and collaboration, the platform can help accelerate scientific discovery and advance our understanding of complex social and cultural phenomena such as immigration.