FAIR Benchmark - Assistance for Life Science Repositories and Knowledgebases: Conceptual Requirements
Authors: Lister, Allyson
Type: Other
Published: 2026-08-03
Keywords: FAIR

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<p class="Paragraph SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIR </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">LS </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">ARK is a structured benchmark </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">(</span></span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW23965426 BCX8" href="https://fairsharing.org/7456/" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> record</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">, </span></span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW23965426 BCX8" href="https://fairsharing.gitbook.io/fairsharing/fair-assistance/fair-enabling-databases" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">Gitbook documentation</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">) </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">for assessing the FAIR-enabling qualities of </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">life science </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">da</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">tabases reg</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">istered in </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">. It evaluates database-level characteristics, not individual datasets or other records contained within a database</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">, and it us</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">es curated </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> metadata together with linked governance artefacts as evidence. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">These characteristics have been chosen by evaluating </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">and mapping </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">a variety of </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">these </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">external governance frameworks for databases as well as the </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> schema; full details are available on </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2Themed SCXW23965426 BCX8">our</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> </span></span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW23965426 BCX8" href="https://fairsharing.gitbook.io/fairsharing/fair-assistance/fair-enabling-databases#governance-crosswalk" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">gitbook pages</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">.</span></span></p>
<p class="Paragraph SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">This benchmark is intended for database managers, </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">curators</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> and others responsible for describing a database in </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">. It provides a common framework for interpreting FAIR in the context of database records, while allowing the same conceptual structure to be specialised for </span><span class="NormalTextRun AdvancedProofingIssueV2Themed SCXW23965426 BCX8">particular communities</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> where needed. The benchmark records each metric as a transparent, citable </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">component</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> that can be reused by assessment tools.</span></span><span class="EOP Selected SCXW23965426 BCX8"> </span></p>
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<p class="Paragraph SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="TextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">The metrics used within this benchmark </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">are</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> registered with</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> and are suitable for any database registry</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> storing life science database records</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">.</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8"> </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">FAIRsharing</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">-specific operationalisations </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">are used as example implementations within the metric and </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">described </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">in more detail </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">within this document</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW23965426 BCX8">.</span></span></p>
<p class="Paragraph SCXW23965426 BCX8">This document was created using a template found at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17901310">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17901310</a>. This template can be copied and used within any community to begin preparations for a FAIR benchmark specific to your needs.  </p>
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