Assessing semantic interoperability in environmental sciences: variety of approaches and semantic artefacts

The integration and reuse of digital research products can be only ensured through the adoption of machine-actionable (meta)data standards enriched with semantic artefacts. This study compiles 540 semantic artefacts in environmental sciences to: i. examine their coverage in scientific domains and topics; ii. assess key aspects of their FAIRness; and iii. evaluate management and governance concerns. The analyses showed that the majority of semantic artefacts concern the terrestrial biosphere domain, and that a small portion of the total failed to meet the FAIR principles. For example, 5.5% of semantic artefacts were not available in semantic catalogues, 8% were not built with standard model languages and formats, 24.6% were published without usage licences and 22.4% without version information or with divergent versions across catalogues in which they were available. This investigation discusses common semantic practices, outlines existing gaps and suggests potential solutions to address semantic interoperability challenges in some of the resources originally designed to guarantee it.