Guidelines for publishing structured metadata on the web

The FAIR principles refer frequently to metadata as a key enabler in discoverability, but also having a major role in accessibility, interoperability and reusability. Publishing structured metadata on the web can provide a simple and efficient means to increase the FAIRness of research resources: it exposes metadata contained in web pages through a formal mechanism, allowing systematic collection and processing by web-based crawlers. Efforts to adopt structured metadata within and across domains would benefit greatly from a set of recommendations that would help ensure consistent implementation leading to enhanced discoverability and accessibility of data. Based on community consultation and subsequent work, these guidelines provide nine recommendations to support the process of publishing structured metadata on the web.