Open-science publisher Frontiers has launched the world’s first all-in-one AI-powered research data management service after identifying that nine out of ten datasets never fuel the discoveries they should.
The service, called Frontiers FAIR² Data Management, addresses a critical problem in scientific research. For every 100 datasets created, around 80 remain in the lab, 20 are shared but rarely reused, fewer than two meet FAIR standards, and only one typically drives new findings. The result: delayed cancer treatments, climate models short on evidence, and research that cannot be reproduced.
Dr Kamila Markram, co-founder and CEO of Frontiers, says: “Ninety per cent of science vanishes into the void. With Frontiers FAIR² Data Management, no dataset and no discovery need ever be lost again — every contribution can now fuel progress, earn the credit it deserves, and unleash science.”
The service brings together curation, compliance checks, AI-ready packaging, peer review, an interactive portal, certification, and lifetime hosting in a single workflow. Tasks that once took months of manual work — from curating datasets and checking compliance to creating metadata and publishable outputs — are now completed in minutes by the AI Data Steward, powered by Senscience, the Frontiers venture behind FAIR².
FAIR² extends the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) with an open specification ensuring every dataset is AI-ready and responsibly reusable by both humans and machines. With one submission, researchers receive four outputs: a certified Data Package, a peer-reviewed and citable Data Article, an Interactive Data Portal with visualisations and AI chat, and a FAIR² Certificate.
The launch includes flagship pilot datasets spanning SARS-CoV-2 variants covering 3,800 spike protein variants, preclinical brain injury MRI scans from four research centres, environmental pressure indicators across 43 countries, and Indo-Pacific atoll biodiversity spanning 280 atolls.
Dr Sean Hill, co-founder and CEO of Senscience, notes: “Science invests billions generating data, but most of it is lost— and researchers rarely get credit. With Frontiers FAIR², every dataset is cited, every scientist recognised — finally rewarding the essential work of data creation.”
Maryann Martone, Chief Editor of Open Data Commons, describes it as “one of the easiest and most effective ways to make data FAIR” that “dramatically lowers that barrier, putting truly FAIR data within reach for most labs.”
