The FAIR principles represent an approach to dealing with research data. This approach can be characterised by the slogan open as possible, closed as necessary. The principles describe methods for organising research data so that it is properly findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
Findability means that:
- (meta)data is assigned a persistent and globally unique identifier /link to glossary – identifier/ (e.g. DOI)
- The data is described with rich metadata/link to glossary metadata/ description.
- The (meta)data is registered or indexed in a searchable resource, e.g. a catalogue or data repository.
- Metadata contains an identifier for the data that describes
Availability (for humans and machines) means that:
- the data record or metadata can be accessed by a persistent identifier
- The protocol over which the (meta)data can be accessed follows recognised standards, e.g. http(s) or ftp(s). The protocol should be free, open and universally implementable.
- The protocol shall allow authentication and authorization as part of the access, if necessary.
- Metadata is always freely available (and without registration), even if the data cannot be accessed.
Interoperability means that:
- (Meta)data are provided in universally understandable and ideally open formats
- (Meta)data follow appropriate standards
- where possible, controlled vocabularies, keywords, thesauri and ontologies that follow the FAIR principles are used for description
- (Meta)data include links to other related (meta)data.
Reusability means that:
- the data is accurate and well described with many relevant attributes (e.g. a rich description of the context in which it was created or needs to be used)
- the data is released with a clear and accessible license
- it is clear how, when and by whom the (meta)data was created and processed
- the data and metadata meet the relevant community standards in the field
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