This document summarizes a presentation by Susanna-Assunta Sansone on making data FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). It discusses the development of the FAIR principles in 2014 and 2016 to enhance the value of digital resources. It notes that better data leads to more discoveries and more efficient science. It also describes work to develop metrics to assess FAIRness, tools to support FAIR data, and the role of identifiers and metadata in powering the FAIR principles. Finally, it introduces the FAIRsharing initiative which aims to increase guidance on standards, repositories, and policies to accelerate discovery and reuse of resources.

1. A Journey to FAIRness
Susanna-Assunta Sansone, PhD
Science and Engineering South, Harnessing FAIR Data, London, 3 September 2018
Slides at: https://www.slideshare.net/SusannaSansone
Associate Professor, Associate Director
ORCiD: 0000-0001-5306-5690
Twitter: @SusannaASansone
Consultant and Honorary Academic Editor

2. Beyond a nice acronym

3. A set of principles to
enhance the value of all
digital resources
Developed and endorsed by researchers,
service providers, publishers, funding agencies,
industry partners; including but not limited to
individuals part of:
2014
2016

4. • Increasing number of discoveries made using other people’s data
• We need data that are
§ Discoverable by humans and machines
§ Retrievable and structured in standard format(s)
§ Self-described so that third parties can make sense of it
Better data = better science and more efficiently
Datasets SOPs Figures, Photos Workflows Slides Codes Tools DatabasesAlgorithmsDocument

5. Protecting the brand

6. Assessing FAIRness
The
FAIRmetrics.org
Working Group
• A proposed core set of 14 semi-quantitative metrics
(measurable indicators) for the evaluation of FAIRness
• FAIRness is an aspirational target and reflects the extent to
which a digital resource addresses the FAIR principles as per
the expectations defined by a community

7. Linking theory to practice
Image source: JiSC

8. FAIR-supporting tools and services being developed in
major EU and USA biomedical infrastructure
programmes, e.g.
€19 million
2015 - 2019
$95.5 million
2017 - 2020
€3.3 billion
2014 - 2020
€20 million
2018 - 2022

9. Identifiers and metadata: the invisible machinery
powering the FAIR principles
• Identifiers and metadata to be implemented by technical experts
in tools, registries, catalogues, databases, services
• Must become almost ‘invisible’ to lay users, who often have little
or no familiarity with them

11. Databases and
data repositories
Community standards,
focusing on metadata and identifier schemas
Formats Terminologies Guidelines
Mapping the landscape of standards,
databases, repositories and data policies
Data policies
by funders, journals and
other organizations
Identifiers
• Providing functionalities to search, visualize and create custom views
• Working to assess the FAIRness of these digital resources

12. Our mission is to increase:
• guidance to consumers of standards, databases, repositories,
and data policies, to accelerate the discovery, selection and use
of these resources; and
• producer satisfaction in terms of resource visibility, reuse,
adoption and citation

13. contact@fairsharing.org
@FAIRsharing_org
fairsharing.org/communities

14. FAIRsharing, a cohesive community approach to the growth
in standards, repositories and policies
n
Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Peter McQuilton, Philippe Rocca-Serra, Alejandra Gonzalez-Beltran,
Massimiliano Izzo, Allyson L. Lister, Milo Thurston and the
FAIRsharing Community:
64 core adopters, advisory board members, and key collaborator, who are stakeholders from academia,
industry, funding agencies, standards organizations, infrastructure providers and scholarly publishers
accepted by