FAIR Cookbook to Join Prestigious List of ELIXIR Recommended Interoperability Resources

ELIXIR has announced the life science data and interoperability resources joining its prestigious list of Core Data Resources, ELIXIR Deposition Databases, and Recommended Interoperability Resources.

ELIXIR is a European intergovernmental organisation made up of life scientists, computer scientists and support staff, with a goal to help researchers take advantage of the huge amounts of data produced in life science, to gain new insights into how living organisms work in health and disease. ELIXIR has also formal and transparent processes to identify, review and select mature community resources - provided by one of more ELIXIR Nodes – for the larger scientific community.

The ELIXIR Recommended Interoperability Resources (RIRs) process, in particular, focuses on tools and registries that help make scientific research findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). Following the latest selection process, there are now 21 Recommended Interoperability Resources, an increase of seven from the first phase. Three of these are resources are co-led by the ELIXIR-UK, recognising the valuable contributions of the UK Node members and organisations, which include the Centre’s Data Readiness Group.

One of the new ELIXIR RIRs is the FAIR Cookbook, which is the third Group’s resources recognized by this prestigious ELIXIR badge, previously awarded to the ISA Framework and the FAIRsharing resource. The FAIR Cookbook is an online, open, and live resource for the life sciences, providing “recipes” to help users make and keep data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). Each recipe covers a particular set of steps towards FAIRer data and are indexed according to a particular dataset “maturity” level.

The FAIR Cookbook is coordinated by an Editorial Board, which is formed by representatives of the ELIXIR Luxemburg, Swiss, and Spanish Nodes, as well as a member of the US National Institutes of Health’s’ Office of Data Science Strategy. A growing number of Contributors write and review recipes, or contribute to the work the recipes describe. Oxford e-Research Centre Researchers Professor Susanna-Assunta Sansone and Dr Philippe Rocca-Serra are members of the Editorial Board.

Well-managed research data from academia and industry sectors generates value far beyond the initial research purpose. Life Sciences data resources are extensively used by the research community across all sectors however, a large proportion of data generated across all sectors of Life Sciences are neither easily discoverable nor accessible and interoperable, making (re)use challenging. The FAIR Cookbook contributes to the development of public and private capacity for high quality data management, by providing recipes that see FAIR Principles embedded in the actual generation of data.

Find out more

• The FAIR Cookbook: An online, open and live resource for the Life Sciences with recipes that help you to make and keep data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable
• The FAIR Cookbook article by Rocca-Serra et al., 2023
• Oxford e-Research Centre’s Data Readiness Group
• ELIXIR Europe article. ELIXIR announces new Core Data Resources and Recommended Interoperability Resources
• ELIXIR UK article. ELIXIR recognises 3 UK services for enabling data interoperability