A minimum provenance record for public data
Source accessions, versions, transformations, exclusions, and checks every analysis should retain.
Minimum source record
Retain source accession, download date, release, license or access conditions, and any source-provided sample exclusions.
Transformation record
Record filtering, normalization, mapping references, label changes, and software environment. A notebook alone is rarely a sufficient provenance system.
Output identity
Tie every derived result to input manifests and code state. Checksums or equivalent immutable identifiers make silent file changes detectable.