Monitoring Data Sharing Practices Using FAIR Assessment Tools: Insights from the University of Primorska

Slovenian research policy increasingly supports open science as the national legislation requires data sharing of mainly publicly funded research in line with FAIR principles. However, institutions still face challenges in tracking and supporting these practices. At the University of Primorska (UP), OA reporting depends on researcher self-assessments, which often lacks details regarding research data. This study investigates data sharing practices in scientific articles published by UP researchers based on a sample of 120 papers. While most articles were openly accessible and 80% reported generating data, more than half did not include a data availability statement and only 10% of papers referenced datasets deposited in trusted repositories. The level of FAIRness of these datasets was evaluated by using three different FAIR assessment tools (F-UJI, FAIR Evaluator and FAIRshake), and results were compared to expert evaluation. Additionally, authors of papers in the sample that were not sharing data were contacted by two data stewards and offered support in preparing data for deposition. Findings from this study will inform institutional policy development aimed at enhancing compliance with open science mandates and supporting automated monitoring of OA and FAIR practices.