During FAIR review (step 3), a FAIR reviewer will check whether your collection has been prepared according to the FAIR review topics. You will save yourself and the FAIR reviewer time by properly preparing your collection before starting the publication process. A good preparation makes your collection more Findable,  Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. This increases the impact of your research and helps to protect the privacy of your research participants. To properly prepare your collection, see our FAIR review page.

Additionally, if you have used a WebDAV tool to upload data, check for missing or incomplete files as described on our helppage Check transferred data.

In the internal review status, your collection is read-only so no changes can be made. It serves as a checkpoint for you and your colleagues (other managers, contributors, and viewers) to inspect the collection.

1. Log in to the RDR and select the collection that you want to publish.
2. Click the button Switch to Internal review near the top left of your screen.
3. A message will appear asking you to confirm your choice to switch states. Click Confirm.
4. Conditional extra step: If you have not flagged any files as documentation files, you will be prompted with a message informing you about this. Click Cancel, add and flag your documentation files, and repeat step 2.2 by clicking Switch to Internal review again. Otherwise, click Confirm.
5. Conditional extra step: Some metadata fields are obligatory. If you have not filled these out, you will be prompted with a pop-up message. Fill in the missing metadata fields and click Save updates. Next, repeat step 2.2 by clicking Switch to Internal review.

If you want to edit your collection after internal review, you can change the collection's status back to editable by clicking Switch to Editable. Next, make your changes and repeat Step 2.

In order to make your collection as FAIR as possible, your DSC is reviewed by a FAIR reviewer before it can be published. For more information on the review process, visit our help page about the FAIR review.

As soon as your collection is switched to the FAIR review status, the FAIR reviewer receives an email notification and will start the review process. The collection remains read-only and you cannot change its status. Within five business days, you will receive feedback on your collection.

In order to switch your collection to FAIR review, follow these steps:

1. Click on Switch to FAIR review near the top left of your screen.
2. A message will appear asking you to confirm your choice to switch states. Click Confirm.
3. You will be asked some questions that will help speed along the review process. Answer these and click Confirm.

Next, the FAIR reviewer will look at your collection and one of the following will happen:

• If no changes are advised, the FAIR reviewer will change the status to external review. You will receive an email notification about this status change. Continue with step 4 to grant external reviewer access or step 5 to publish your collection.
• If you are advised to apply changes, the FAIR reviewer will change the collection's status to editable. You will receive an email notification about this status change and an email with the advised changes. In consultation with the FAIR reviewer, edit your collection and repeat steps 2 and 3.

The external review status allows you to share a link with editors and reviewers in such a way that you remain anonymous to the reviewers and vice versa before publication. Your collection remains read-only. In order to grant reviewer access, use the 'Share and permissions' button. For more detailed information, see our page about 'Sharing collections'.

If you want to edit your collection after external review, you can change the collection's status back to editable by clicking Switch to Editable. Next, make your changes and repeat steps 2, 3 and 4. Note that the changes to your collection will be reviewed again by the FAIR reviewer during step 3. This will usually take less time than the first FAIR review step, especially if you notify the reviewer of the changes you have made.

You can publish your DSC by clicking on Switch to Published near the top left of your screen.

A message will appear asking you to confirm the status switch. Click Confirm. Your collection has now been published and the following happens:

• The collection becomes read-only. Only a few metadata fields can still be changed, namely Contact name, Contact email, Managers, Contributors, Viewers, Audience, Associated publications, Associated data, Associated analysis tools, Associated pre-registrations, Keywords, Embargo until (by the research administrator), and Preservation time (by the research administrator).
• The assigned DOI becomes active.
• Your collection's data become available under the access level and Data Use Agreement (DUA) or licence you have selected, unless you have chosen to place an embargo on your collection. If so, your collection's data becomes available after the embargo date.
• The three placeholder files in your collection (ABOUT.txt, LICENSE.txt and MANIFEST.txt) are populated with relevant information. The ABOUT.txt file contains a summary of the metadata fields, the LICENSE.txt file contains a copy of your chosen licence or DUA, and the MANIFEST.txt file can be used to check for complete data transfer.
• The collection's metadata will become publicly available to  anyone irrespective of the chosen access level and any embargo period. The metadata include all the fields that are visible under your collection's metadata tab, the file names (not content!) under your collection's files tab, the automatically generated documentation files (ABOUT.txt, LICENSE.txt, and MANIFEST.txt), and all files that you labelled as documentation files.
• Your metadata will be registered in RIS.
• The collection receives a version number.