Advancing Earth System Sciences to FAIRness and Openness: the NFDI4Earth Commitment

In the evolving landscape of geosciences, the need for findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable as well as open (FAIR and Open) data has never been more important. The NFDI4Earth FAIRness and Openness Commitment (the NFDI4Earth Commitment, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10123880) invites the Earth System Sciences (ESS) community to take a step towards a more collaborative and impactful scientific future through their endorsement.

The principles of FAIR and Open data advance research data management (RDM) practices, e.g., using domain-specific research data infrastructures. Good RDM practices are crucial to ensure that data-driven methods are reproducible, robust, and transparent. The NFDI4Earth Commitment has been published in 2024 as the common vision of NFDI4Earth (https://nfdi4earth.de). It provides values and practical guidance to start a conversation on advancing FAIR and Open data practices in ESS. Signatories demonstrate that they strive to adhere to the commitment's values and to implement better RDM practices. ESS institutions and organisations as well as individual researchers can endorse and sign the NFDI4Earth Commitment.

We present how the endorsement of the NFDI4Earth Commitment can spark attention of individuals and initiate actions in organisations. For example, academic societies may take an endorsement as an opportunity to evaluate how they can support FAIR and Open data practices in the ESS in their role as platforms for discourse and policy setting, and as journal publishers. Through the Commitment, NFDI4Earth aims to drive progress in the Earth sciences and address global challenges. Join us in shaping the future of our field by signing today.