Make your data FAIR
Learn how to make your research data easy to find, access, and reuse by following the FAIR principles.
Follow the FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) to make your research data well-organised, easy to discover, and usable by others. Making your data FAIR boosts its visibility and impact, supports collaboration, reproducibility, and helps preserve your valuable research outputs for the long term.
How to put FAIR principles into practice
Make your research data easy to find and understand, so it’s discoverable and useful to others.
To do this:
- Give your datasets a unique and permanent identifier (like a DOI or Handle)
- Use clear and detailed descriptions (metadata)
- Add relevant keywords
Make your data easy for others to access, without unnecessary hurdles.
To do this:
- Remove technical, legal, or cost barriers that could block people from using your data.
- Use open licenses and store your data in trusted data repositories like Federation.figshare.
Make your data work well with other datasets and tools, so it’s easier to find, reuse and analyse without extra effort.
To do this:
- Use standard formats and clear data models so your data can be easily shared and combined.
- Make your data ‘machine-readable’ for smooth computers processing.
Organise your data so others can easily reuse it, build on your work and create stronger, more impactful studies.
To do this:
- Provide clear, detailed documentation
- Follow best practices for quality and consistency.
Need help?
Visit the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) for practical tips and resources to accelerate your research impact through FAIR data.