Ten simple rules for making a vocabulary FAIR

• Published in: PLoS computational biology Vol. 17; no. 6; p. e1009041
• Main Authors: Cox, Simon J. D, Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra N, Magagna, Barbara, Marinescu, Maria-Cristina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 01.06.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Annotations; Biology and Life Sciences; Computer and Information Sciences; Controlled vocabularies; Conversion; Data integration; Datasets; Electronic data processing; Interoperability; Jargon; Knowledge organization; Linked Data; Metadata; Ontology; Representations; Resource Description Framework-RDF; Semantic web; Semantics; Social Sciences; Web Ontology Language-OWL; Websites; United States
• ISSN: 1553-7358; 1553-734X; 1553-7358
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009041

We present ten simple rules that support converting a legacy vocabulary—a list of terms available in a print-based glossary or in a table not accessible using web standards—into a FAIR vocabulary. Various pathways may be followed to publish the FAIR vocabulary, but we emphasise particularly the goal of providing a globally unique resolvable identifier for each term or concept. A standard representation of the concept should be returned when the individual web identifier is resolved, using SKOS or OWL serialised in an RDF-based representation for machine-interchange and in a web-page for human consumption. Guidelines for vocabulary and term metadata are provided, as well as development and maintenance considerations. The rules are arranged as a stepwise recipe for creating a FAIR vocabulary based on the legacy vocabulary. By following these rules you can achieve the outcome of converting a legacy vocabulary into a standalone FAIR vocabulary, which can be used for unambiguous data annotation. In turn, this increases data interoperability and enables data integration.