The FAIR Principles are vital to enabling the use of data, not just for people, but more importantly for machines. The FAIR principles are designed to address the necessary steps to make research data and the metadata attached to it FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).
FAIR enables the use of data and metadata for a wide range of use cases and without it, data is not consumable in a way that is needed to build upon research, to make it reproducible, or to provide it as a trusted source of verified information to new technologies such as artificial intelligence. While the principles were not specifically designed to be applied to metadata schema, or not in isolation, this 4-part blog series will address each of the interlinked FAIR principles and, how Ringgold Data is FAIR Data for organization identification.
The third post in our series explores how Ringgold data and metadata are Interoperable.
Interoperable
The data usually needs to be integrated with other data. In addition, the data needs to interoperate with applications or workflows for analysis, storage, and processing.
I1. (Meta)data use a formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation.
Ringgold Data is available in a formal manner in XML with an xsd, with data also available in csv, json, including object-based schemas which are fully described and documented for clients to ingest in an understandable manner using known languages and offer flexibility of ingestion, utilization, and onward application to the client’s own standards and industry standards such as JATS.
I2. (Meta)data use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles
Ringgold vocabularies and ontologies are defined and utilize term IDs for resolution, term names and descriptions for clarity of content, all of which are available in each source where the data is available, including data exports, APIs, and user interfaces. In the future, CCC intends to apply Globally Unique PIDs to ontology and taxonomy terms to enable easier interoperability within a new structure such as the W3C Simple Knowledge Organization System.
I3. (Meta)data include qualified references to other (meta)data
Ringgold Data contains and references additional datasets by including their persistent IDs, including but not limited to, ISNI, as an ISNI Registration Agency, Open Funder IDs, IPEDs, NCES numbers and OpenAthens numbers. Clients may derive additional metadata for ingestion and combination with Ringgold and other sources by utilizing these IDs, which are pervasive in the scholarly communications ecosystem and themselves link to metadata within and external to their own schemes. For example, the IPED is linked to ARL library statistics.
Comprehensive Data Management: Beyond FAIR Principles
When thinking about data we should also consider other data principles in addition to FAIR, including but not limited to systems and data security such as SOC2 and ISO standards certification, privacy standards including application of all national and regional legislation and best practices, and best practices around business models and sustainability to ensure the longevity of data access. Not least we should consider data quality and apply metrics in the form of dimensions of data appropriate to the context and develop certificates of data quality.
While “quality issues are not addressed by the FAIR principles,” for over 20 years, publishers have relied on the excellence of Ringgold data. All records in the Ringgold Identify Database are created, maintained and quality-controlled by a team of data experts. This data maintenance is done in accordance with rigorous, up-to-date editorial policies, and changes are structured, tracked, and made available within the dataset. CCC adheres to best practices for data quality, security, and compliance. Ringgold Solutions provides a robust, sustainable solution that continues to evolve with the industry.
Next in the Ringgold Data and the FAIR Principles blog series, we discuss how Ringgold data and metadata are Reusable.
Learn about Ringgold data and metadata is Findable.
Learn about how Ringgold data and metadata are Accessible.