Global Findability of FAIR Research Datasets

Currently, no search engine is available for specific and easy searches of published research datasets stored in institutional repositories. Most commonly, primary research data in institutional repositories are accessed via its Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which must be known.

The global findability of research data can be increased by mapping its metadata to a search tool that allows finding and accessing information from a single search point. For this purpose, we mapped the TRR170-DB planetary data repository (https://planetary-data-portal.org/) with its XML metadata to the search engine PRIMO via the OAI-PMH method. PRIMO is the central search interface of Freie Universität Berlin for searching and accessing local and external resources. Metadata mapped to PRIMO can be found by global search engines such as Google.

Data in the TRR170-DB repository reflect the different methods and approaches applied to investigate planet formation in the collaborative research center ‘Late Accretion onto Terrestrial Planets’ (TRR 170). Datasets are stored in open electronic formats such as csv (tables), pdf (text), and jpeg and tiff (images). Once a dataset is published, the repository guarantees archival and long-term access to the dataset with a DOI persistent identifier. At present, most datasets are in the public domain and represent replication data of peer-reviewed articles which appeared in international journals since 2016. PRIMO’s harvesting of TRR170-DB metadata ensures that the datasets remain easily accessible to the global community in the long term while providing a setting that amplifies the use of best practices and collaborative and interdisciplinary research.