[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":416},["ShallowReactive",2],{"answers-\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Ffair-data-principles-in-practice":3,"answers-cluster-research-data":105,"answers-related-\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Ffair-data-principles-in-practice":126},{"id":4,"title":5,"answer":6,"body":7,"cluster":69,"description":70,"extension":71,"faq":72,"heading":75,"intro":63,"kind":76,"meta":77,"navigation":78,"order":67,"outbound":79,"path":86,"primaryQuery":87,"product":88,"related":89,"seo":91,"sources":92,"stem":103,"updated":96,"__hash__":104},"answers\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Ffair-data-principles-in-practice.md","What the FAIR Data Principles Mean in Practice","Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. They describe how well data can be located and used by both people and machines: a persistent identifier and rich metadata, a clear access protocol, standard formats and vocabularies, and enough documentation and licensing for someone else to reuse it.",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":62},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,23,26,29,34,37,40,43,46,50,53,56,59],[11,12,13],"p",{},"FAIR is easier to satisfy than its reputation suggests, because most of it is handled by depositing in a decent repository. A good repository gives you a persistent identifier, a metadata schema, and a licence field, which covers a large part of the requirement before you have done anything unusual.",[11,15,16],{},"What remains is yours. Metadata quality is the first part: a description that says what the data is, how it was collected, what the variables mean, and under what conditions it may be used. Repositories provide the fields and cannot fill them in usefully for you.",[11,18,19],{},"Formats are the second. Data stored in a proprietary format that requires a licensed application is a barrier to reuse and often to your own future access, since software versions stop opening old files. Exporting to open formats such as CSV, plain text, or an open image standard costs little at the point of deposit and is the difference between preserved and merely stored.",[11,21,22],{},"Vocabularies are the part most people skip. Interoperable means using the standard terms and identifiers your field already has, so a machine can relate your dataset to others. If your discipline has an ontology or a controlled vocabulary, using it is what turns your dataset from a file into something combinable with others.",[11,24,25],{},"The reusable component is mostly licensing and provenance. Without a licence, a legally careful researcher cannot use your data at all, because silence is not permission.",[11,27,28],{},"The original formulation is more specific than the acronym suggests. Findable requires a globally unique and persistent identifier, rich metadata, an explicit link from the metadata back to the data it describes, and registration in a searchable resource. Accessible requires retrieval over a standardised protocol that is open, free, and broadly implementable, with authentication allowed where it is needed, and it requires the metadata to stay available even after the data themselves are removed. Reusable requires accurate description, an accessible usage licence, detailed provenance, and compliance with community standards (Wilkinson et al., 2016, p. 4).",[30,31,33],"h2",{"id":32},"what-does-making-data-fair-involve-in-practice","What does making data FAIR involve in practice?",[11,35,36],{},"Four concrete actions. Deposit in a repository that issues a persistent identifier. Describe the data with metadata that includes what it is, who made it, and under what conditions. Use open, standard file formats. Attach a licence saying what others may do with it.",[11,38,39],{},"Do these at deposit rather than planning to improve the record later. Metadata written while you still remember the project is accurate, and metadata reconstructed two years afterwards is thin.",[11,41,42],{},"Ask your library which repository suits your data type. Subject repositories often provide better metadata schemas and more relevant discovery than a general institutional one. Harvard Dataverse is the example the 2016 paper works through, with more than 60,000 datasets, persistent identifiers, searchable landing pages, metadata that survives when files are restricted or withdrawn, and machine-readable interfaces (Wilkinson et al., 2016, p. 5).",[11,44,45],{},"If your field has no metadata standard and no subject repository, you are not doing it wrong. Belliard and colleagues report data and code sharing rates between 1% and 20% across disciplines, higher in areas such as genomics, and they attribute the gap to missing standards, missing repositories, and disagreements over which community holds the authority to pick a standard. Their answer is a ten-step sequence that starts with defining the community and building partnerships, then moves to setting minimum metadata requirements, documentation standards, and infrastructure, and ends with planning for long-term sustainability (Belliard et al., 2023, pp. 1-2). Decide your publication and access scenario before or during collection rather than at deposit, since whether the data will be public, closed, or controlled-access changes what consent and documentation you need (Hassenstein and Jung, 2025, p. 2).",[30,47,49],{"id":48},"does-fair-mean-open","Does FAIR mean open?",[11,51,52],{},"No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Accessible means the access conditions are clearly stated and the metadata is findable, not that anyone can download the data. Sensitive data can be fully FAIR while remaining restricted, provided the record and the access process are public.",[11,54,55],{},"The formulation people use is that data should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary. A controlled-access dataset with a public record, a stated process for requesting access, and a named contact satisfies the principles.",[11,57,58],{},"The authors of the principles say this directly. FAIR is not a standard or a specification that mandates a particular technology, it is high-level guidance for judging whether an implementation makes a research object findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, and it can be adopted incrementally and in different combinations. Sensitive and personally identifiable data can meet it through rich public metadata plus a stated access procedure. The same expectations apply to workflows, software, and other research objects, which should also carry identifiers, descriptions, and reuse terms (Wilkinson et al., 2016, pp. 4-5).",[11,60,61],{},"This matters for anyone working with human participants. FAIR compliance and confidentiality are compatible, and a plan that treats them as opposed usually ends up sharing nothing at all, including the metadata that would have let people find the study.",{"title":63,"searchDepth":64,"depth":64,"links":65},"",4,[66,68],{"id":32,"depth":67,"text":33},2,{"id":48,"depth":67,"text":49},"research-data","What FAIR data actually requires beyond the acronym, what making data FAIR involves in day-to-day practice, and why FAIR does not mean open.","md",[73,74],{"q":33,"a":36},{"q":49,"a":52},"What are the FAIR data principles?","answer",{},true,[80,83],{"label":81,"to":82},"Knowledge bases and what goes in them","\u002Fdocs\u002Fcore-concepts\u002Fknowledge-bases",{"label":84,"to":85},"Corpus filters and reproducible retrieval","\u002Fdocs\u002Fcore-concepts\u002Frag-and-retrieval","\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Ffair-data-principles-in-practice","what are the fair data principles in practice",null,[90],"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fdo-you-pay-to-publish-open-access",{"title":5,"description":70},[93,97,100],{"label":94,"url":95,"checked":96},"Wilkinson et al., The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship, Scientific Data (2016)","https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1038\u002Fsdata.2016.18","2026-08-06",{"label":98,"url":99,"checked":96},"Belliard et al., Ten simple rules for starting FAIR discussions in your community, PLoS Computational Biology (2023)","https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1371\u002Fjournal.pcbi.1011668",{"label":101,"url":102,"checked":96},"Hassenstein and Jung, Ten simple rules for effective research data management, PLoS Computational Biology (2025)","https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1371\u002Fjournal.pcbi.1013779","answers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Ffair-data-principles-in-practice","Ht3Z2B24mVoHo7qF_fsTvENK0qYFhgQmVjTQfvmCQRk",[106,111,112,117,121],{"path":107,"heading":108,"description":109,"order":110},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Fwrite-a-data-management-plan","How do I write a data management plan?","What a data management plan has to cover, what funders actually check when they read one, and how long the document needs to be to satisfy a review panel.",1,{"path":86,"heading":75,"description":70,"order":67},{"path":113,"heading":114,"description":115,"order":116},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Forganize-research-data-files","How do I organize research data files?","How to organize research data files so the structure still works in year three, what makes a good file naming convention, and how to version files without chaos.",3,{"path":118,"heading":119,"description":120,"order":64},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Fwhat-preregistration-is","What is preregistration in research?","What preregistration involves, whether it stops you exploring your data, and how a registered report differs from an ordinary preregistered study.",{"path":122,"heading":123,"description":124,"order":125},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-data\u002Fanonymize-qualitative-data","How do I anonymize qualitative interview data?","How to anonymize interview transcripts properly, the difference between anonymization and pseudonymization, and whether anonymized transcripts can be shared.",5,[127,130,133,136,139,142,145,148,151,154,157,160,163,166,169,172,175,178,181,184,187,190,193,196,199,202,205,208,211,214,217,220,223,226,229,232,235,238,241,244,247,250,253,256,259,262,265,268,271,274,277,280,283,286,289,292,295,298,300,303,306,309,312,315,318,321,324,327,330,333,336,339,342,345,348,351,354,357,360,361,362,363,364,365,368,371,374,377,380,383,386,389,392,395,398,401,404,407,410,413],{"path":128,"heading":129},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fdraft-without-stopping-for-citations","How do I draft when I keep stopping to look up citations?",{"path":131,"heading":132},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fhow-long-should-a-literature-review-chapter-be","How long should a literature review chapter be?",{"path":134,"heading":135},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fparaphrase-without-plagiarizing","How do I paraphrase a source without plagiarizing?",{"path":137,"heading":138},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fstructure-a-phd-thesis","How do I structure a PhD thesis chapter by chapter?",{"path":140,"heading":141},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fthesis-by-publication-or-monograph","Should I do a thesis by publication or a monograph?",{"path":143,"heading":144},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fwrite-a-discussion-section","How do I write a discussion section without repeating the results?",{"path":146,"heading":147},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fwrite-a-methodology-chapter","How do I write a methodology chapter?",{"path":149,"heading":150},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fwrite-a-thesis-introduction","How do I write a thesis introduction?",{"path":152,"heading":153},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fwrite-an-abstract","How do I write an abstract for a research paper?",{"path":155,"heading":156},"\u002Fanswers\u002Facademic-writing\u002Fwrite-consistently-during-a-phd","How do I write consistently during a PhD?",{"path":158,"heading":159},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fai-for-systematic-review-screening","Can I use AI for screening in a systematic review?",{"path":161,"heading":162},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fare-ai-detectors-reliable","Are AI detectors reliable?",{"path":164,"heading":165},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fcan-an-ai-be-an-author","Can an AI tool be listed as an author on a paper?",{"path":167,"heading":168},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fcan-i-use-ai-for-a-literature-review","Can I use AI for a literature review?",{"path":170,"heading":171},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fcan-you-trust-an-ai-summary","Can I trust AI summaries of research papers?",{"path":173,"heading":174},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fdisclose-ai-use-in-a-paper","Do I need to disclose AI use in a research paper?",{"path":176,"heading":177},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fhow-to-cite-chatgpt","How do I cite ChatGPT in APA 7?",{"path":179,"heading":180},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fis-using-chatgpt-plagiarism","Is using ChatGPT for academic writing plagiarism?",{"path":182,"heading":183},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fusing-ai-in-a-phd-thesis","Can I use AI in a PhD thesis?",{"path":185,"heading":186},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fusing-ai-to-write-a-peer-review","Can I use AI to help write a peer review?",{"path":188,"heading":189},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fverify-ai-generated-citations","How do I check whether AI-generated citations are real?",{"path":191,"heading":192},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fwhy-ai-answers-better-on-your-own-pdfs","Why does an AI answer better when it reads my own PDFs?",{"path":194,"heading":195},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fai-in-research\u002Fwhy-chatgpt-invents-references","Why does ChatGPT make up references?",{"path":197,"heading":198},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fcheck-every-claim-against-its-citation","How do I check that every claim in my thesis is supported by its citation?",{"path":200,"heading":201},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fcite-the-paper-you-read-or-the-original","Should I cite the paper I read or the original study it references?",{"path":203,"heading":204},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fcited-source-does-not-say-that","What do I do when a paper's cited source does not support its claim?",{"path":206,"heading":207},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fciting-a-paper-you-cannot-access","Can I cite a paper I cannot get hold of?",{"path":209,"heading":210},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fciting-a-review-instead-of-the-original","Is citing a review instead of the original research bad practice?",{"path":212,"heading":213},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fdo-i-need-to-cite-everything","Do I need to cite absolutely everything in a thesis?",{"path":215,"heading":216},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fhow-much-self-citation","How much self-citation is acceptable?",{"path":218,"heading":219},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fjournal-page-number-or-pdf-page-number","Do I use the journal page number or the PDF page number in a citation?",{"path":221,"heading":222},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fquoting-a-source-in-another-language","How do I quote a source in another language in an English thesis?",{"path":224,"heading":225},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fwhere-does-the-citation-go","Where should a citation go when only one clause in a sentence needs support?",{"path":227,"heading":228},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fyou-described-a-result-too-broadly","How do I fix a sentence that describes a study's result too broadly?",{"path":230,"heading":231},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fcitations\u002Fzotero-or-mendeley","Should I use Zotero or Mendeley for a PhD?",{"path":233,"heading":234},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fbuild-a-synthesis-matrix","How do I build a synthesis matrix when my themes keep changing as I read?",{"path":236,"heading":237},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fkeep-a-literature-review-current","How do I keep a literature review current over a multi-year PhD?",{"path":239,"heading":240},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fliterature-review-synthesis-or-summary","How do I know if my literature review is synthesis or just a summary?",{"path":242,"heading":243},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fliterature-review-too-descriptive","What does it mean when a supervisor says a literature review is too descriptive?",{"path":245,"heading":246},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fnarrative-scoping-or-systematic-review","What is the difference between a narrative literature review and a systematic review?",{"path":248,"heading":249},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Forganize-literature-review-by-argument","How do I organize a literature review by argument instead of by paper?",{"path":251,"heading":252},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Freview-that-leads-to-your-question","How do I write a literature review that leads logically to my research question?",{"path":254,"heading":255},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fscreening-abstracts-for-a-review","How do I screen hundreds of abstracts for a systematic review?",{"path":257,"heading":258},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fstudies-with-opposite-conclusions","What do I write when two studies on the same question reach opposite conclusions?",{"path":260,"heading":261},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fsynthesis-matrix-into-paragraphs","How do I turn a synthesis matrix into literature review paragraphs?",{"path":263,"heading":264},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fsystematic-review-search-strategy","How do I build a search strategy for a systematic review?",{"path":266,"heading":267},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fliterature-review\u002Fwhen-to-stop-searching-for-papers","How do I know when to stop searching for papers for a literature review?",{"path":269,"heading":270},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fdefend-your-methodology-in-a-viva","How do I defend my methodology in a viva?",{"path":272,"heading":273},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fimposter-syndrome-in-a-phd","How do I deal with imposter syndrome during a PhD?",{"path":275,"heading":276},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fplan-a-realistic-phd-timeline","How do I plan a realistic PhD timeline?",{"path":278,"heading":279},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fpostdoc-or-industry","Should I do a postdoc or go to industry after my PhD?",{"path":281,"heading":282},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fprepare-for-a-phd-viva","How do I prepare for a PhD viva?",{"path":284,"heading":285},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fstop-procrastinating-on-your-phd","How do I stop procrastinating on my PhD?",{"path":287,"heading":288},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwhat-happens-if-a-viva-goes-badly","What happens if you fail a PhD viva?",{"path":290,"heading":291},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwhen-your-supervisor-is-not-supportive","What do I do when my PhD supervisor is not supportive?",{"path":293,"heading":294},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fphd-life\u002Fwrite-an-academic-cv","How do I write an academic CV for a postdoc application?",{"path":296,"heading":297},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fchoose-a-journal","How do I choose a journal for my paper?",{"path":90,"heading":299},"Do I have to pay to publish open access?",{"path":301,"heading":302},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fhow-author-order-is-decided","How is author order decided on a paper?",{"path":304,"heading":305},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fhow-peer-review-works","How does journal peer review actually work?",{"path":307,"heading":308},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fhow-to-cite-a-preprint","How do I cite a preprint?",{"path":310,"heading":311},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fjournal-submission-cover-letter","How do I write a cover letter for a journal submission?",{"path":313,"heading":314},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Frespond-to-reviewer-comments","How do I respond to peer reviewer comments?",{"path":316,"heading":317},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fshould-you-post-a-preprint","Should I post my paper as a preprint?",{"path":319,"heading":320},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fspot-a-predatory-journal","How do I tell if a journal is predatory?",{"path":322,"heading":323},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fpublishing\u002Fwhy-papers-get-desk-rejected","Why was my paper desk rejected?",{"path":325,"heading":326},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Ffind-the-paper-you-half-remember","How do I find a paper when I only remember the argument it made?",{"path":328,"heading":329},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fhighlighting-pdfs-stops-working","Why can I never find my PDF highlights again?",{"path":331,"heading":332},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fhow-many-papers-can-you-read-a-day","How many papers can a PhD student realistically read in a day?",{"path":334,"heading":335},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fkeep-up-with-new-papers","How do I keep up with new papers without reading everything?",{"path":337,"heading":338},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fnon-english-studies-in-a-review","How do I include non-English studies in a literature review?",{"path":340,"heading":341},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fnote-system-takes-too-long","What do I do when my note-taking system takes longer than reading the papers?",{"path":343,"heading":344},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Forganize-100-papers","How do I organize and extract information from more than 100 papers?",{"path":346,"heading":347},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Freading-papers-in-a-second-language","How do I read research papers efficiently when English is my second language?",{"path":349,"heading":350},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Fremember-what-a-paper-said","How do I remember what was in papers I read months ago?",{"path":352,"heading":353},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Frestart-a-project-after-months-away","How do I get back into a research project after months away?",{"path":355,"heading":356},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Ftrack-connections-between-papers","How do I keep track of connections between papers?",{"path":358,"heading":359},"\u002Fanswers\u002Freading-and-notes\u002Ftriage-pdfs-before-reading","How do I triage 200 PDFs before deciding which ones to read in full?",{"path":122,"heading":123},{"path":86,"heading":75},{"path":113,"heading":114},{"path":118,"heading":119},{"path":107,"heading":108},{"path":366,"heading":367},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fchoose-a-theoretical-framework","How do I choose a theoretical framework for my thesis?",{"path":369,"heading":370},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Ffind-a-research-gap","How do I identify a research gap in the literature?",{"path":372,"heading":373},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fis-my-research-gap-original","How do I know if my research gap is original?",{"path":375,"heading":376},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fnarrow-a-broad-research-question","How do I narrow down a research question that is too broad?",{"path":378,"heading":379},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fresearch-question-changed-mid-phd","Can a research question change during a PhD?",{"path":381,"heading":382},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fresearch-question-or-hypothesis","What is the difference between a research question and a hypothesis?",{"path":384,"heading":385},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fturn-a-topic-into-a-research-question","How do I turn a research topic into a research question?",{"path":387,"heading":388},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fwhat-makes-a-good-research-question","What makes a good research question in a PhD thesis?",{"path":390,"heading":391},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-gaps\u002Fwrite-a-research-gap-statement","How do I write a research gap statement?",{"path":393,"heading":394},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fchoose-a-statistical-test","How do I choose which statistical test to use?",{"path":396,"heading":397},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fhow-many-interviews-is-enough","How many interviews are enough for a qualitative study?",{"path":399,"heading":400},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fhow-to-do-thematic-analysis","How do I do thematic analysis step by step?",{"path":402,"heading":403},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Finductive-or-deductive-coding","What is the difference between inductive and deductive thematic analysis?",{"path":405,"heading":406},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fintegrate-mixed-methods-data","How do I integrate qualitative and quantitative data in a mixed methods study?",{"path":408,"heading":409},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Frigour-in-qualitative-research","How do I show rigour in qualitative research?",{"path":411,"heading":412},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fwhat-a-p-value-means","What does a p value actually mean?",{"path":414,"heading":415},"\u002Fanswers\u002Fresearch-methods\u002Fwork-out-your-sample-size","How do I calculate the sample size for a study?",1786014769659]