WorldFAIR (D5.2) Geochemistry Methodology and Outreach

Together with the earlier WorldFAIR Milestone 6, this D5.2 report focuses on advocating the utility and significance of FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs) for the geochemistry community, culminating in presenting a set of policy and organisational recommendations. The primary goal of this report is to foster alignment across the complex and heterogeneous geochemistry community, in producing and integrating FAIR data for the huge diversity of sample types and target analytes of this community, each often having numerous analytical methods. This document presents various ways in which the community can increase FAIRness through the publication of FERs for different levels of data granularity and FAIR community size and complexity (Figure 2). Additionally, interoperability of data between methodologies is suggested to be overcome through data abstraction (Box 1).

Following the FIP methodology, this D5.2 report makes reference to the fifteen FAIR Principles, divided into scientific and technical components. Scientific component implementations, and related community engagement, are to be based on best practice publications that outline data reporting and methodology descriptions from within specific geochemistry sub-disciplines. Parts of these publications, including tables and images in PDF or document formats, could be converted into machine actionable FAIR-enabling resources (FERs), and be part of a generic FIP for geochemistry. Technical components need to be generated, reviewed and assessed by geochemistry data infrastructure and repository technical staff, along with the development of additionally needed FERs in consultation with other FAIR data management expert groups (e.g., CODATA-DDI Alliance activity, the DDI-CDI group, the RDA Vocabulary Services Interest Group, IUPAC, etc.) and the “Ten Simple Rules for making a vocabulary FAIR” (Cox et al. 2021). 

This report is the result of interactions with the geochemistry community through the OneGeochemistry Initiative, its board members, research infrastructure experts, analytical facilities and international leaders in geochemistry data management systems (EarthChem, DIGIS-GEOROC, AGN–AusGeochem, GFZ Data Services, NFDI4Earth, and EPOS MSL Laboratories).

Visit WorldFAIR online at http://worldfair-project.eu.

WorldFAIR is funded by the EC HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ERA-01-41 Coordination and Support Action under Grant Agreement No. 101058393.