How to make data FAIR

Plan data management with sharing and re-use in mind

Include data sharing in your project planning and data management plan from the outset.

• Plan data management
• Guide: How to set up a DMP in DMPonline

Use sustainable and interoperable file formats

Ensure data accessibility by using open, widely used and machine-readable file formats that can be opened with standard or open software.

The Swedish National Data Service (SND) provides a list (link below) of criteria for file formats suitable for accessibility and long-term preservation, as well as a list of suggested formats for text, spreadsheets, audio, video, etc.

• SND: Choosing a file format

Think about what information will be needed to understand and re-use the data

Maintain rich documentation of the data (metadata) at project, dataset and variable level to facilitate for yourself and others to understand, verify and re-use data now and in the future. Identify what other outputs might be needed to verify or reproduce data, such as code, scripts, protocols and questionnaires.

• Read about metadata on our page Collect, organise, and store data.

Use common standards and vocabularies when structuring, annotating and describing data

When possible, follow widely accepted standards, vocabularies and community practices established in your field of research. This will help make data and metadata unambiguous and interoperable for both humans and computers.

• Read about standards and vocabularies on our page Collect, organise, and store data.

Publish in a trusted data repository

Publish data and documentation, including related outputs, with clear terms for reuse in a FAIR-supporting data repository that provides a persistent identifier and provisions for security, long-term preservation etc. For legal or ethical reasons, it may not always be possible to publish data openly. In this case, the FAIR way is to still publish a description of the dataset (i.e. metadata) so that it can be discovered, but with restricted access and information about how or where data may be requested.

The Swedish National Data Service (SND), of which SLU is a member, offers a data repository that supports the FAIR principles to a high degree.  Using SND it is also possible to publish data with restricted access.

• Read more about publishing in SND in our guide: How to publish data via SND.
• For more information about data repositories, see Share and publish data.

The following checklists can help you assess whether or not you are on the right track towards FAIR data, and also help you learn more about how to apply the principles:

• How FAIR are your data? – a short checklist to help you “think FAIR” when it comes to data.
• FAIR assessment tool – by filling out a form you can get an idea of the FAIRness of the data in your project and what steps could be taken to increase FAIRness.
• FAIR Aware – this tool can help you to better understand the FAIR Principles and how making data FAIR can increase the potential value and impact of research data

Did you find this guide useful? Is there anything missing, or is there another aspect of data management you would like guidance on? Please let us know!

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