Abstract
In September 2020, the director and board of the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) initiated a working group on FAIR collaboration opportunities in the Nordic Region. This came in the wake of the data tsunami era and the realisation that machine learning and connected data will become of crucial importance to both society and science. Furthermore, the findings of the EOSC-Nordic project show that the uptake of FAIR in the region is slow and the majority of data repositories are not FAIR-compliant, while only a small fraction measures up to the available FAIR metrics. Sharing publicly-funded data in a meaningful, reusable way must become part of normative behaviour in order to nurture data driven sciences. By enabling data capabilities, we are facilitating interdisciplinary data reuse as well as the exchange of information and knowledge. A key objective is data integration, whereby concepts and properties and the relationships between them are linked, forming knowledge graphs and offering an opportunity to provide insight (new knowledge) from the multitude of relations and patterns.
Although awareness of the FAIR principles is growing and there is an appreciation of the Open Science vision among researchers and support staff, a small survey conducted by the working group confirms the existence of some challenges that are contradictory to the Open Science (OS) movement and contribute to confusion and status quo when it comes to implementing FAIR. If we are serious about embracing OS and the implementation of the FAIR principles, we must ensure that all elements pull in the same direction (this includes infrastructure, skills and services, as well as policies and incentives). Data stewardship is gradually becoming part of the researcher workflow in some organisations, institutions and departments. Professionalising this crucial support is key to succeeding in a swift and effective transition towards sharing discoverable, accessible and reusable data. The working group finds that coordinating tasks such as raising awareness, training and skills development and developing common tools and services for research data management (RDM) can help to strengthen the momentum of FAIR uptake and improve the utilisation of resources, skills and tools across the Nordic Region. A Nordic coordination office may be one way to orchestrate a common strategy for working towards the realisation of the Open Science vision.
Although awareness of the FAIR principles is growing and there is an appreciation of the Open Science vision among researchers and support staff, a small survey conducted by the working group confirms the existence of some challenges that are contradictory to the Open Science (OS) movement and contribute to confusion and status quo when it comes to implementing FAIR. If we are serious about embracing OS and the implementation of the FAIR principles, we must ensure that all elements pull in the same direction (this includes infrastructure, skills and services, as well as policies and incentives). Data stewardship is gradually becoming part of the researcher workflow in some organisations, institutions and departments. Professionalising this crucial support is key to succeeding in a swift and effective transition towards sharing discoverable, accessible and reusable data. The working group finds that coordinating tasks such as raising awareness, training and skills development and developing common tools and services for research data management (RDM) can help to strengthen the momentum of FAIR uptake and improve the utilisation of resources, skills and tools across the Nordic Region. A Nordic coordination office may be one way to orchestrate a common strategy for working towards the realisation of the Open Science vision.
Original language | English |
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Publisher | Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) |
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Number of pages | 32 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |