Findable accessible interoperable reusable data principles (FAIR)

Last revised by Daniel J Bell on 1 Sep 2020

The FAIR (findable accessible interoperable reusable) data principles are a set of guidance on enhancing semantic machine interpretability of data, thereby improving its richness and quality. Since its inception, multiple international organizations have endorsed the application of FAIR principles to research.

Principles

  • to be findable
    • (meta)data are assigned a globally unique and eternally persistent identifier
    • data are described with rich metadata
    • (meta)data are registered or indexed in a searchable resource
    • metadata specify the data identifier
  • to be accessible
    • (meta)data are retrievable by their identifier using a standardized communications protocol
    • the protocol is open, free, and universally implementable
    • the protocol allows for an authentication and authorization procedure, where necessary
    • metadata are accessible, even when the data are no longer available
  • to be interoperable
    • (meta)data use a formal, accessible, shared and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation
    • (meta)data use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles
    • (meta)data include qualified references to other (meta)data
  • to be reusable
    • (meta)data have a plurality of accurate and relevant attributes
    • (meta)data are released with a clear and accessible data usage license
    • (meta)data meet domain-relevant community standards

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