What's next
While we believe the current guidelines will significantly empower users to enhance the FAIRness of eDNA data, other contributions will also make a difference.
Raising awareness
Our next step focuses on raising awareness of FAIR principles, existing guidelines, and available tools to promote their adoption with the eDNA communities. To achieve this, the lead author will host workshops with eDNA practitioners over the coming year, offering hands-on opportunities to introduce FAIR data principles and provide practical guidance on implementing standardised formatting protocols. The first workshop is scheduled to take place at the eDNA conference in Wellington, New Zealand, in February 2025. More than a training exercise, these workshops are crucial for establishing direct communications, identifying communities’ needs, and addressing challenges to adopting FAIR data practices within their workflows. This step is particularly important as open and FAIR data can only be achieved through eDNA practitioners’ collaborative efforts, and rely on their commitment to making data accessible for broader use.
Several studies have explored Open Science behaviours and identified the barriers among scientists (e.g., Norris and O’Connor, 2019; Tenopir et al., 2015). These barriers include technical and resource limitations, such as lack of standards, tools, time and skills to navigate required data management systems (Tedersoo et al., 2021; Tenopir et al., 2015). Additionally, multiple perceived barriers exist, including unawareness of the value of data for others, fear of scrutiny due to potential mistakes, resistance to openly sharing data given large efforts invested to secure funding in the face of limited resource for scientific research and resistance to changing existing practices (Norris and O’Connor, 2019; Tenopir et al., 2015).
To address these challenges, it is essential to communicate the diverse benefits of data sharing beyond reproducibility and documentation. Apart from the obvious public good and enabling data reuse, data sharing leads to various benefits to data providers. These include increased visibility and citation of associated work (Colavizza et al., 2020; Piwowar et al., 2007; Wood-Charlson et al., 2022), direct citation metrics of data accessed through databases (e.g., GBIF), and enhanced collaborations and co-authorships, which all lead to improved professional stature (Bethlehem et al., 2022; McKiernan et al., 2016; Piwowar and Vision, 2013; Whitlock, 2011). Many eDNA practitioners, however, are not yet fully aware of these benefits. Establishing open and direct communications with them through workshops will help us identify their unique barriers and needs, work collaboratively to overcome them, and foster a culture of FAIR data practices in the community.
Revising, updating and integrating the guidelines
As eDNA science is relatively new and rapidly evolving, new methods and technologies will emerge. To improve and adjust the FAIRe metadata checklist and formatting guidelines and keep them relevant, regular revisions and updates are essential. Input from data providers and reusers is vital to this process, and we welcome feedback at any time via https://github.com/FAIR-eDNA/FAIR-eDNA.github.io/issues. Updated guidelines will be available at https://fair-edna.github.io.
Leveraging the network of the co-authors (e.g., GSC, TDWG, ENA, GBIF, OBIS, ALA) we aim to continuously revise and co-develop the FAIRe metadata checklist to integrate with established data standards and databases (Figure 6). Implementation and alignment of FAIRe procedures and formats will be supported through contributions to the existing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived biodiversity data (Abarenkov et al., 2023), and development of scripts, like the FAIRe-ator and FAIRe2GBIF, and tools like the GBIF MDT. Integration of the FAIRe checklist into the GSC suite (i.e., MIxS), that will facilitate its adoption within the INSDC system, will be pursued through collaboration with the GSC MIxS Compliance and Interoperability Working Group (CIG) and with input from TDWG (Figure 6).
In the scope of existing agreements between TDWG and GSC to collaborate on development of specifications for sequence-based biodiversity data, we will support the integration of the FAIRe checklist into the DwC DNA Derived Data extension. Continued revision, testing, and alignment with these organisations' objectives is needed to ensure successful implementation. Important milestones include the publication of updated guidelines for publishing DNA-derived biodiversity data (Abarenkov et al., 2023), publication of the eDNA MIxS checklist and publication of the FAIRe-aligned DwC DNA Derived Data extension. Achieving these milestones will serve as evidence that the FAIRe checklist is adequate and accepted by the eDNA community. Long-term maintenance would be ideally managed by these consortia and organisations, but will depend on sustained engagement and interest from the eDNA science community in the FAIRe checklist.
We have developed the current guidelines with great interest to integrate them into journal publication requirements. We have collaborated with Wiley and Environmental DNA to develop a roadmap for integrating FAIR data principles into their publication procedures. This roadmap involves three key steps; 1) strongly recommending adherence to the FAIRe guidelines upon journal article publication, 2) making compliance mandatory in due course, and 3) extending these requirements to additional journals including Molecular Ecology and Ecology and Evolution. While most journals mandate data sharing, submitting data in a FAIR manner is not yet a widespread practice (Roche et al., 2015). Implementation of the FAIR data guidelines is a crucial and effective strategy given the large number of eDNA studies published each year with the tremendous volume of genetic and species occurrence data they generate (Takahashi et al., 2023).
Harmonising FAIR and CARE
The CARE principles, which stand for Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics, were developed by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance to protect the Indigenous rights and interests in Indigenous data which include information, data, and traditional knowledge about their resources and environments (Carroll et al., 2021, 2020). The people- and purpose- oriented CARE principles are designed to complement the data-centric FAIR principles by ensuring that Indigenous data remain FAIR whilst centring Indigenous sovereignty (Mc Cartney et al., 2023). Implementing the CARE principles into FAIR data initiatives is essential to ensure that data use respects Indigenous rights, serves a meaningful purpose, and promotes wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) (Carroll et al., 2021; O’Brien et al., 2024).
Mc Cartney et al., (2023) established a roadmap for the lifecycle of eukaryotic biodiversity sequencing data following the CARE principles. It identifies actions required from researchers throughout each study to build sustainable partnerships with IPLC. In the context of FAIR initiatives, it is crucial to develop culturally aware linked metadata. For example, generalising or withholding culturally sensitive data, such as geographical coordinates of culturally important sites, is respected and accepted, which can be mapped under the terms dataGeneralization and informationWithheld in the FAIRe metadata checklist and other standards and databases (Darwin Core Maintenance Group, 2021; Chapman, 2020). Information on access, use permission, and the person or organisation owning and managing data rights, should be defined at the start of each project, and recorded under the terms accessRights and rightsHolder. Further works are needed in contextual metadata to document Traditional Knowledge Labels and Notices (Liggins et al., 2021; “Local Contexts – Grounding Indigenous Rights,” 2023), provenance about place and people (Mc Cartney et al., 2023), and the cultural importance of species (Reyes-García et al., 2023). Meetings, workshops and collaboration across various stakeholders including IPLC and eDNA communities are essential to recognise the benefits of eDNA data sharing in various aspects, exchange more information and raise discussions. All these efforts are critical to harmonising FAIR and CARE, establishing and retaining the link between people and nature, and serving as a vehicle for knowledge transfer, capacity development, two-way science and biodiversity conservation.
