Enabling FAIR Data
This e-mail went out to Copernicus editors and referees, and forwarded here:
"Dear editors and referees,
Today, a research publication is much more than a manuscript on a website or in print. All scholarly publications represent a network of interconnected resources and information that are essential to the integrity, reusability, and value of that output for both scientific and societal uses. Often, the data, software, experimental protocols and physical samples connected to a publication provide additional and even greater value in their own right. Therefore, it is very essential that one recognizes the importance of ensuring the quality, value, and integrity of data and other resources connected to scholarly publications.
Data (and other materials underpinning the findings presented in a publication) should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) – not only for humans, but also for machines. According to these principles, data should, at the very least, have unique and persistent identifiers and appropriate metadata to assist discovery and be cited in a form equivalent to other scholarly outputs. Authors are therefore requested to deposit data (and other materials underpinning the findings presented in their publication) in a FAIR-aligned repository, to cite data (and other underlying materials) in their article with a corresponding reference in the reference list, and to include a data availability statement in their manuscript on how their underlying research data can be accessed. Please make sure that these requirements are fulfilled when reviewing a manuscript.
For more information, please see our data policy (https://publications.copernicus.org/services/data_policy.html) and author guidelines (https://publications.copernicus.org/for_authors/services_for_authors). Learn more about the Commitment Statement in the Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences here: http://www.copdess.org/enabling-fair-data-project/commitment-to-enabling-fair-data-in-the-earth-space-and-environmental-sciences/
Kind regards,
Martin Rasmussen
Copernicus Publications"