FAIR data

FAIR data is data which meets the 2016 FAIR principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability, first formally published in 2016 .

The FAIR principles emphasise machine-actionability — the capacity of computational systems to find, access, interoperate, and reuse data with none or minimal human intervention — because humans increasingly rely on computational support to deal with data as a result of the increase in the volume, complexity, and rate of production of data. The principles were designed to apply not only to data in the conventional sense, but also to the algorithms, tools, and workflows that led to that data: all scholarly digital research objects benefit from application of these principles, since all components of the research process must be available to ensure transparency, reproducibility, and reusability.

The abbreviation FAIR/O data is sometimes used to indicate that the dataset or database in question complies with the FAIR principles and also carries an explicit data‑capable open license.