FAIR evaluation

Get a calibrated FAIR score for your paper — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. This is a parallel quality metric, independent of the DataRank citation score. See the FAIR showcase →

How the FAIR score works

FAIR measures how well a paper and its underlying data follow the FAIR principles — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. Each principle is scored 0–100, and the four combine into a single calibrated 0–100 score.

Findable

Rich, machine-readable metadata, a persistent DOI, and presence in repositories and indexes so the work and its data can be discovered.

Accessible

The paper and data are openly retrievable — Open Access, deposited files, and a clear protocol for how to obtain them.

Interoperable

Data uses standard formats and vocabularies and is linked through standard identifiers — dataset DOIs, accessions, and registered relations.

Reusable

A clear open license, provenance, versioning, and enough methodological detail for others to reproduce and reuse the work.

How it's scored. Each dimension blends objective signals we can verify — a DOI, Open Access status, deposited files, linked datasets and accessions, an open license, and version history — with an AI rubric that reads the paper's freely available full text (or its abstract when full text isn't available). When no AI model is configured the score falls back to the deterministic signals alone, so results stay reproducible.

Calibrated across papers. The overall score is standardized into a percentile over every paper we've evaluated, so you can see where a paper stands relative to the rest of the corpus.

Independent of DataRank. FAIR is a parallel quality metric. It is never folded into the citation-based DataRank score — it measures data stewardship, not citation impact.

Is it measuring the right thing?

If FAIR captures genuine data sharing, better-shared work should — all else equal — earn more citations. We test this on a clean cohort of recent (2021+), full-text data papers, with NIH-funded subsets reported separately. Citation count is the validation target, never an input to the score.

Cohort	n	Spearman ρ	p
Power (data · recent · full text)	128	0.284	.001
NIH stratum	36	0.582	<.001
NIH-grant matched only	27	0.587	.001

All three correlations are statistically significant, and the two NIH definitions agree closely (ρ ≈ 0.58) — evidence the signal is real and robust, not an artifact of how we slice the data. The correlation is weak-to-moderate by design: a near-1.0 value would mean FAIR is just re-measuring citations, while these values show it captures a related but distinct quality — how well a paper's data is shared.

The cohort, in full — DOI · FAIR score · citations (128 papers)

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DOI	FAIR	Citations
10.1093/nar/gkac1000	52.9	8,502
10.1093/nar/gkab1061	58.1	8,161
10.1016/s1474-4422(21)00252-0NIH	47.7	7,453
10.1093/nar/gkab1038NIH	69.6	6,690
10.1126/science.abj6987NIH	51.9	3,274
10.1038/s41597-022-01899-xNIH	59.2	2,640
10.1093/nar/gkab1062	69.6	2,377
10.1038/s41592-021-01336-8	46.7	1,376
10.1093/nar/gkac958	65.6	1,082
10.1038/s41591-023-02327-2NIH	84.2	736
10.1038/s41586-022-04558-8	62.5	584
10.1038/s41586-021-03950-0NIH	61.2	565
10.1038/s41586-022-04601-8NIH	41.5	561
10.1038/s41586-021-03705-xNIH	44.4	527
10.1038/s41586-020-03145-zNIH	52.9	458
10.1038/s41586-021-03220-zNIH	49.8	382
10.1038/s41586-021-03500-8NIH	52.9	372
10.15252/msb.20209923	58.1	362
10.1057/s41599-021-00903-w	30.2	334
10.1038/s41586-024-07606-7	39.4	256
10.1038/s41586-021-03620-1	24.8	189
10.1186/s13059-021-02519-4	43.5	187
10.1186/s12874-020-01190-w	39.4	183
10.21105/joss.04371	49.0	182
10.1093/nar/gkab1019	56.0	181
10.1093/nar/gkab786	52.9	167
10.1016/j.envres.2021.110856	33.1	128
10.1038/s41586-025-08816-3	58.1	120
10.1101/2023.11.09.563812NIH	59.2	113
10.1038/s41586-024-08172-8	49.8	111
10.15252/emmm.202012871NIH	33.1	102
10.1038/s41467-022-28402-9	49.8	101
10.1101/2022.04.13.22273750NIH	56.2	100
10.1098/rsos.210389	41.5	99
10.1038/s41467-022-35319-w	49.8	85
10.1038/s41592-025-02617-2	49.8	81
10.1371/journal.pone.0244839	41.5	80
10.1038/s41588-023-01475-yNIH	54.0	79
10.1038/s42255-023-00876-x	61.2	79
10.1038/s41591-024-03215-zNIH	58.1	71
10.1038/s41586-025-09140-6	61.2	67
10.1038/s43588-024-00627-2	52.9	64
10.1007/s10654-022-00853-w	49.8	56
10.1186/s13326-022-00264-6	63.3	53
10.1093/neuonc/noaf113	51.9	44
10.1101/2022.12.01.518724NIH	47.9	42
10.1093/nar/gkab897	47.7	42
10.15252/embj.2023114665	46.7	35
10.1093/nargab/lqad070	48.8	34
10.1371/journal.pbio.3002999	41.5	31
10.1101/2024.01.07.574538NIH	41.5	30
10.15252/emmm.202215670	25.0	30
10.3758/s13428-021-01698-z	60.2	30
10.1038/s41587-024-02414-wNIH	46.7	29
10.1101/2022.08.31.22279406NIH	14.6	29
10.1101/2024.09.24.614721NIH	41.5	27
10.1183/13993003.02057-2021	38.3	26
10.1038/s41588-025-02182-6	60.2	25
10.1101/gr.278985.124NIH	46.7	25
10.1101/2024.07.31.605654NIH	46.7	25
10.1093/nar/gkab1009	47.7	24
10.1038/s41598-024-56705-y	56.2	23
10.1101/2023.05.24.542082	53.1	23
10.1093/nar/gkac851	49.8	22
10.1038/s41597-023-02462-y	58.1	20
10.3390/life11010042	39.4	20
10.1186/s13023-024-03059-3	58.1	19
10.1038/s41467-024-54306-x	36.2	19
10.1016/j.csbj.2022.02.003	52.9	19
10.21203/rs.3.rs-3471275/v1	46.7	18
10.1098/rsos.220311	49.8	16
10.1186/s13045-023-01517-2NIH	43.5	14
10.1038/s41586-023-06445-2	14.6	13
10.1101/2024.06.12.598655NIH	49.8	12
10.1186/s13099-024-00606-y	47.7	11
10.1093/nar/gkae1007	52.9	11
10.1101/2023.10.11.560955NIH	58.1	11
10.1093/nar/gkaf1126	49.8	9
10.1101/2021.07.27.21261169	50.0	9
10.3390/bioengineering10080932	36.2	8
10.1186/s13073-021-00909-8	57.3	8
10.1101/2025.07.03.662928	41.5	7
10.64898/2025.12.12.693897	49.8	7
10.1093/gbe/evac100	57.3	7
10.1093/database/baad092	61.2	6
10.1038/s41597-023-02726-7	44.6	6
10.1128/msystems.00341-22NIH	49.8	6
10.1038/s41597-023-02258-0	66.5	6
10.1038/s41586-025-10054-6	49.8	5
10.12771/emj.2025.00409NIH	33.1	5
10.1261/rna.079784.123	49.0	5
10.1093/database/baab087	42.7	5
10.1101/2024.01.20.576452NIH	55.0	4
10.1093/database/baad097	36.2	4
10.1101/2023.02.20.528987NIH	36.2	4
10.1128/spectrum.02116-22	47.7	4
10.1101/2025.10.20.683446NIH	38.3	3
10.1038/s41467-025-64774-4NIH	33.1	3
10.1101/2024.04.22.590125	39.2	3
10.1371/journal.pone.0291437	45.8	3
10.1002/leap.1358	38.3	3
10.1038/s41467-026-68820-7NIH	36.2	2
10.1038/s41467-026-68378-4NIH	35.2	2
10.1107/s1600577525005272	49.8	2
10.1001/jamahealthforum.2025.3045NIH	35.2	2
10.1101/2025.06.05.25329055	38.3	2
10.1038/s41597-024-04243-7	47.7	2
10.1186/s13059-025-03865-3	49.8	1
10.1111/aogs.70018	36.2	1
10.3389/fmicb.2025.1557285	52.9	1
10.1098/rsos.240016	37.3	1
10.1038/s41586-024-08482-x	24.8	1
10.1038/s41597-026-06644-2	46.7	0
10.1038/s41467-025-64954-2NIH	41.5	0
10.15829/1728-8800-2025-4550	22.9	0
10.1128/jcm.01511-25	49.8	0
10.52294/001c.155650	59.4	0
10.1093/database/baaf086	46.7	0
10.1038/s41597-026-06742-1	59.2	0
10.1186/s13059-025-03921-y	44.6	0
10.1186/s12859-025-06319-6	49.8	0
10.7759/cureus.97260	41.5	0
10.1101/2025.03.26.25324631	31.0	0
10.1302/2633-1462.612.bjo-2025-0230.r1	33.1	0
10.1093/nar/gkaf1057	61.2	0
10.26717/bjstr.2023.51.008052	59.2	0
10.1016/j.csbj.2022.08.012	36.2	0
10.29309/tpmj/2022.29.10.6710	59.2	0

Sorted by citations. NIH-funded papers tagged. Citation count is the validation target — it never enters the FAIR score.