Abstract
The FAIR guiding principles for research data stewardship (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) look set to become a cornerstone of research in the life sciences. A critical appraisal of these principles in light of ongoing discussions and developments about data sharing is in order. The FAIR principles point the way forward for facilitating data sharing more systematically—provided that a number of ethical, methodological, and organisational challenges are addressed as well.
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Acknowledgements
Boeckhout’s work was financially supported by BBMRI-NL, a Research Infrastructure financed by the Dutch government (NWO), no. 184033111. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers and to Jan-Willem Boiten for comments on a draft version.
Author contributions
MB came up with the initial idea for this paper. The idea was elaborated on in discussion with GZ and ALB. MB led the drafting process, to which GZ and ALB contributed with revisions, additions and comments in a number of iterations. The authors provide complimentary expertise to the topic: MB is a philosopher and sociologist of science by training; GZ is an epidemiologist and biobanker; ALB is professor in the ethics of biomedical innovation. MB is the guarantor of the article.
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Boeckhout, M., Zielhuis, G.A. & Bredenoord, A.L. The FAIR guiding principles for data stewardship: fair enough?. Eur J Hum Genet 26, 931–936 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-018-0160-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-018-0160-0
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