ICAT

ICAT is an acronym that can refer to multiple entities, but in the context of scientific data management it most often denotes a data catalog and access system used at research facilities. ICAT aims to organize metadata about experiments, datasets, and files and to provide controlled access to data for researchers and the public.

The ICAT data management system provides a central catalog, search capabilities, and an API for programmatic access. Its data model typically includes entities such as Investigation, Study, Dataset, and Datafile, linked to information about experiments, instruments, samples, and provenance. The system supports ingestion of metadata, user authentication and role-based authorization, versioning, auditing, and data publication workflows. It is designed to facilitate data discovery, retrieval, and sharing while supporting compliance with data management policies.

Deployment and use: ICAT originated to support data management for large-scale facilities and has been deployed at several science facilities around the world. It is used to enable efficient data discovery, access control, and long-term preservation. The project is often maintained as open-source software with community contributions and ongoing development, and it can integrate with storage backends and external authentication systems.

Other uses: The acronym ICAT is also used for unrelated organizations and projects. This article focuses on the ICAT data management system, but readers should consult context-specific sources to determine the exact meaning of ICAT in a given setting. See also references to data management systems and cataloging tools used in research facilities.