CUF-Links: Continuous and Ubiquitous FAIRness Linkages for reproducible research.

Abstract

Despite much creative work on methods and tools, reproducibility-the ability to repeat the computational steps used to obtain a research result-remains elusive. One reason for these difficulties is that extant tools for capturing research processes, while powerful, often fail to capture vital connections as research projects grow in extent and complexity. We explain here how these interstitial connections can be preserved via simple methods that integrate easily with current work practices to capture basic information about every data product consumed or produced in a project. By thus extending the scope of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data in both time and space to enable the creation of a continuous chain of Continuous and Ubiquitous FAIRness linkages (CUF-links) from inputs to outputs, such mechanisms can facilitate capture of the provenance linkages that are essential to reproducible research. We give examples of mechanisms that can facilitate the use of these methods, and review how they have been applied in practice.