This FAIR Implementation Profile (FIP) was created to reflect the resources used by the Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) RSpace to follow the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. 

The project was conducted as a part of the inaugural GO FAIR Foundation Fellowship with support from the GO FAIR Foundation, Leiden University, and Research Space. It aims to demonstrate how software developers for research data tools, such as RSpace, can better aid the implementation of the FAIR principles by incorporating FAIR assessment into their development roadmap and in their communications with users. 

RSpace is a digital research platform provided by Research Space, which includes an electronic lab notebook and a sample management system employed by Leiden researchers. It serves as a crucial point of (meta)data capture for researchers across a broad range of disciplines while also offering multiple integrations with other research and data management tools. 

To the RSpace digital research platform, we apply a qualitative assessment approach developed by the GO FAIR Foundation, called FAIR Implementation Profiles (FIPs), which are lists of declared technology choices – called FAIR Enabling Resources (FERs) – intended to implement each of the FAIR Principles. Applying the FIP approach then allows evaluation of the FERs deployed by a tool, such as RSpace, in support of FAIRification.

By creating FIPs, software developers are communicating how the data in their tool is addressing the FAIR principles and opens the door for more interoperable integration.

Insights garnered from this project will shape the creation of guidelines that drive increasingly more FAIR workflow solutions throughout Leiden University and beyond.