Home FAIR Principles A1.1: The protocol is open, free and universally implementable

What does this mean?
To maximise data reuse, the protocol should be free (no-cost) and open (-sourced) and thus globally implementable to facilitate data retrieval. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can access at least the metadata. Hence, this criterion will impact your choice of the repository where you will share your data.

Examples

  • HTTP, FTP, SMTP, …
  • Telephone (arguably not universally-implementable, but close enough)
  • A counter-example would be Skype, which is not universally-implementable because it is proprietary
  • Microsoft Exchange Server protocol is also proprietary

Links to Resources