The first edition of the EOSC Federation Handbook has been published on Zenodo. The document outlines the organisational, operational and technical characteristics of the EOSC Federation. 

The EOSC Federation, which consists of multiple EOSC Nodes and is jointly governed by the European Commission, the EOSC Association, and EOSC Steering Board, through the EOSC Tripartite Governance, recently began its build-up phase.

The EOSC Federation Handbook will play a pivotal role in the process of expanding the Federation throughout 2025 by serving as a guide to organisations or groups of organisations that want to make their resources available across the Federation and become a Node.  In particular, the resource targets facility managers, policy makers and technical staff of research-performing and funding organisations, as well as Research Infrastructures, providers of scientific services and other resources, and e-Infrastructures.

The Handbook is composed of six sections:

• Chapter 1 establishes the foundations of the EOSC Federation, including its purpose, users, benefits, and success criteria. 
• Chapter 2 outlines the governance framework, legal structure, and risk management, defining roles for the Federation and candidate Nodes. 
• Chapter 3 details the operational structure and requirements to become an EOSC Node.
• Chapter 4 looks at an EOSC Node architecture, explaining how its services can be set up and federated. 
• Chapter 5 identifies the categories of FAIR data and scientific resources that can be made available through the Federation.
• Chapter 6 explains the process of joining as an EOSC Node or onboarding a service into an existing one.

The publication of the document marks a significant step towards the creation of an ecosystem that promotes the quality, openness and reproducibility of research across borders and domains