The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
Published in Scientific Data, 2016
Recommended citation: Wilkinson, Mark D. and Dumontier, Michel and Aalbersberg, IJsbrand Jan and Appleton, Gabrielle and Axton, Myles and Baak, Arie and Blomberg, Niklas and Boiten, Jan-Willem and da Silva Santos, Luiz Bonino and Bourne, Philip E. and Bouwman, Jildau and Brookes, Anthony J. and Clark, Tim and Crosas, Mercè and Dillo, Ingrid and Dumon, Olivier and Edmunds, Scott and Evelo, Chris T. and Finkers, Richard and Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra and Gray, Alasdair J. G. and Groth, Paul and Goble, Carole and Grethe, Jeffrey S. and Heringa, Jaap and ’t Hoen, Peter A. C and Hooft, Rob and Kuhn, Tobias and Kok, Ruben and Kok, Joost and Lusher, Scott J. and Martone, Maryann E. and Mons, Albert and Packer, Abel L. and Persson, Bengt and Rocca-Serra, Philippe and Roos, Marco and van Schaik, Rene and Sansone, Susanna-Assunta and Schultes, Erik and Sengstag, Thierry and Slater, Ted and Strawn, George and Swertz, Morris A. and Thompson, Mark and van der Lei, Johan and van Mulligen, Erik and Velterop, Jan and Waagmeester, Andra and Wittenburg, Peter and Wolstencroft, Katherine and Zhao, Jun and Mons, Barend. "The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship", Scientific Data, https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18 https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18
This paper was the first formal publication of the principles to achieve Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data. The principles were community-driven (see the FORCE11 page about them) and determine what are the main elements to make data FAIR, and support scientific data management and stewardship.
Since its publication, the FAIR principles have had an impact in multiple research data policies at international level, including:
- 2016 G20 Leaders’ Communique Hangzhou Summit
- European Open Science Could (EOSC) Declaration
- Turning FAIR into reality by the European Commission FAIR Data Expert Group (FAIR Data EG)
- Prompting an EOSC in practice by the European Commission 2nd High Level Expert Group on the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC 2nd HLEG)
- NIH Big Data to Knowledge program
Abstract
There is an urgent need to improve the infrastructure supporting the reuse of scholarly data. A diverse set of stakeholders—representing academia, industry, funding agencies, and scholarly publishers—have come together to design and jointly endorse a concise and measureable set of principles that we refer to as the FAIR Data Principles. The intent is that these may act as a guideline for those wishing to enhance the reusability of their data holdings. Distinct from peer initiatives that focus on the human scholar, the FAIR Principles put specific emphasis on enhancing the ability of machines to automatically find and use the data, in addition to supporting its reuse by individuals. This Comment is the first formal publication of the FAIR Principles, and includes the rationale behind them, and some exemplar implementations in the community.
Citation
Mark D Wilkinson, Michel Dumontier, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg, Gabrielle Appleton, Myles Axton, Arie Baak, Niklas Blomberg, Jan-Willem Boiten, Luiz Bonino da Silva Santos, Philip E Bourne, Jildau Bouwman, Anthony J Brookes, Tim Clark, Mercè Crosas, Ingrid Dillo, Olivier Dumon, Scott Edmunds, Chris T Evelo, Richard Finkers, Alejandra Gonzalez-Beltran, Alasdair JG Gray, Paul Groth, Carole Goble, Jeffrey S Grethe, Jaap Heringa, Peter AC’t Hoen, Rob Hooft, Tobias Kuhn, Ruben Kok, Joost Kok, Scott J Lusher, Maryann E Martone, Albert Mons, Abel L Packer, Bengt Persson, Philippe Rocca-Serra, Marco Roos, Rene van Schaik, Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Erik Schultes, Thierry Sengstag, Ted Slater, George Strawn, Morris A Swertz, Mark Thompson, Johan van der Lei, Erik van Mulligen, Jan Velterop, Andra Waagmeester, Peter Wittenburg, Katherine Wolstencroft, Jun Zhao, Barend Mons. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship”. Scientific Data. 2016(3) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18