Open Data

„Open Data“ logo free for non-commercial use, DMCA

Open data supplied should be FAIR, thus it has to be:

• Findable: Data and all related materials must have sufficiently detailed descriptive metadata as well as a unique and persistent identifier, e.g. Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

• Accessible: All metadata and data should be comprehensible to humans and/or computers, and data should be stored in a reliable repository.

• Interoperable: Metadata should use standardised formats and languages, data description standards and controlled vocabulary standards. Another important thing is the link between the metadata of the dataset and other related publications and outputs – as well as links to authors, institutions, other projects, and outputs.

• Reusable: The data are appropriately annotated with rich metadata descriptions. The user is provided with clear instructions, information about the license, as well as about the accessibility, origin, and retrieval method of the data. Standards common in the field are strictly respected.

Not all open data is FAIR (OPEN ≠ FAIR)

There is a common belief that FAIR-compliant data must also be open without any restriction, but this is a misunderstanding. The goal of data availability is the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”. There are several occasions when the data cannot be accessed by default, for example data that is subject to intellectual property rights or data that is sensitive by nature.

Freely available open sources:

arXiv - Archive for electronic preprints and scientific materials in physics, mathematics, computer science and quantitative biology and nonlinear sciences.

Caritas et Veritas - A professional journal focusing on the reflection of Christian contexts in social sciences and humanities published by the Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia.

DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals -  database searchable by journal title and individual articles.

Google Books - The database of books from all over the world contains records, but also often full texts.

Google Scholar - search engine of records and full texts across all disciplines.

PLoS JOURNALS - Public Library of Science's multidisciplinary database providing full access to electronic journals.

RePEc - an economics-focused digital library created by volunteers from 75 countries.