Compilation of Recommendations

Details

Short Title

FsF-R1.3-02D Data is available in a file format recommended by the target research community.

Source Documnent

FAIRsFAIR Data Object Assessment Metrics

Source Document Link

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4081213

Publishing Organisation

FAIRsFAIR

Date of Publication

2020-10-12

Topic

Machine-actionability

Addressed Stakeholders

data service providers, research community, data stewards

Keywords

file formats, target community

Text

File formats refer to methods for encoding digital information. For example, CSV for tabular data, NetCDF for multidimensional data and GeoTIFF for raster imagery. Data should be made available in a file format that is backed by the research community to enable data sharing and reuse. Consider for example, file formats that are widely used and supported by the most commonly used software and tools. These formats also should be suitable for long-term storage and archiving, which are usually recommended by a data repository. The formats not only give a higher certainty that your data can be read in the future, but they will also help to increase the reusability and interoperability. Using community-endorsed formats enables data to be loaded directly into the software and tools used for data analysis. It makes it possible to easily integrate your data with other data using the same preferred format. The use of community-endorsed formats will also help to transform the format to a newer one, in case an older format gets outdated.