Open cost data in repositories – FAIR enough?

The FAIR Guiding Principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016) aim to drive the transformation towards Open Science by ensuring that data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). While typically associated with research data, these principles are also essential for sustainably and inclusively managing publication cost data, which plays a key role in assuring transparency in scholarly publishing. By making cost data accessible and comparable, institutions can enhance financial planning, budgeting, and negotiations.Therefore the "openCost" project (www.opencost.de) provides a standardized format for the automated exchange of publication cost data. This Lightning Talk explores whether the openCost format can be considered FAIR enough by analyzing the openCost metadata schema in the context of each of the four FAIR principles. Persistent identifiers, the OAI protocol or a community-approved vocabulary are just examples of creating the metadata's compliance with these FAIR principles. The repository serves as an ideal platform for organizing FAIR publication cost data, and future development of openCost will extend to internal data recording within repositories, supporting institutions in their cost data management. This presentation emphasizes the importance of FAIRness also in in the perspective of publication cost data to finally facilitate an efficient and transparent Open Access landscape.