Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary(M)
Session Sub-categoryGeneral Geosciences, Information Geosciences & Simulations(GI)
Session IDM-GI38
TitleToward Open and FAIR Physical Samples and Collections in the Earth and Planetary Sciences
Short TitleOpen & FAIR Physical Samples
Main Convener NameJens F Klump
AffiliationCSIRO Mineral Resources
Co-Convener 1NameSean Toczko
AffiliationJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Co-Convener 2NameTakayuki Tomiyama
AffiliationJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Co-Convener 3NameYasuhiro Murayama
AffiliationStrategic Program Produce Office, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
Session LanguageE
ScopePhysical samples play a central role in a wide range of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences even in the digital age. Research funders invest substantial resources into local, national, and international projects and programs to collect samples, often in remote locations, during expensive and laborious field programs, on land and at sea.

These samples are described and analyzed in laboratories, offices, and teaching efforts. Much attention is currently afforded by the international research community to ensure that the results from these studies, including any data that were generated on samples, are persistently findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable (FAIR), but the underlying samples often remain unfindable, inaccessible, and unusable, and are most likely to be destroyed or abandoned.

Best practices and guidelines for FAIR data and software are well advanced, less so for physical samples and collections. There is an urgent need to establish criteria for FAIR samples that can inform policies of funders and publishers regarding access and curation of samples. Researchers and academic institutions need guidance to plan for and implement the proper naming, description, and storage of samples. Registration of samples with globally unique and persistent identifiers and deposition of sample metadata in trustworthy digital catalogs should follow policies and procedures that have already been implemented for digital data.

This session focuses on efforts responding to national and organizational policies that: increase sample visibility, sample use and tracking; promote recommended practices in sample management; and measure and demonstrate the value of physical samples to science and society.
Presentation FormatOral and Poster presentation