Emulation-as-a-Service - Workflows and Infrastructure to Support Recomputable Science

The computational age and its fast technological progress boosted research output of almost all disciplines. However, these early benefits come along with a burden: while the exchange of research data and ideas is easier and more effective than ever, assuring both short- and long-term access to fundamental scientific methods is more difficult than anticipated. In particular, functional access to data processing methods, tool-chains and scientific workflows is indispensable in order to verify and replicate research findings. This article is proposing emulation as a technique for generalization of data processing environments, serving as first step towards long-term accessibility of research data and associated methods. We present a Cloud-based emulation-as-a-service framework for publication and citation of scientific workflows and research data, since having re-usable processing environments, emulation can be used for technical verification of research data, i.e. Ensure minimal quality assurance like completeness and an explicit list of potential external dependencies, fundamental for future risk-assessment.