FAIR² Data Articles in Soft Matter: From Granular Systems to Complex Fluids and Interfaces

Soft matter encompasses a remarkably diverse class of materials - granular media, colloidal suspensions, polymers, liquid crystals, surfactant and lipid assemblies, emulsions, foams, gels, and active biological systems, among others. What they share is a tendency to generate complex, high-dimensional datasets that are difficult to reproduce, compare across studies, and build upon.From force chain networks in sand to scattering profiles of lipid membranes, from DEM simulations of powder flow to rheological fingerprints of polymer gels, the data underlying soft matter research carries enormous latent value - yet most of it never reaches the community. Studies consistently show that more than 90% of research data becomes inaccessible within a few years of publication, creating a significant reproducibility crisis across the field.This Research Topic responds to that problem. It invites contributions as FAIR² Data Articles - a peer-reviewed, citable article type in which a well-curated dataset is the primary scientific output, accompanied by structured metadata and interactive access designed to make the data genuinely reusable by others.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:Granular systems and suspensions• Force and contact network datasets from experiments and simulations• Imaging datasets of granular packings (photoelastic, X-ray, tomographic)• DEM simulation outputs • Geometric and topological analyses of static and evolving structures in granular and suspension flows• Datasets bridging evolving particulate matter with flows in porous mediaColloidal and interfacial systems• Colloidal particle trajectories, aggregation, and phase behavior• Surfactant, lipid, and amphiphile self-assembly datasets (SAXS, SANS, neutron reflectometry)• Thin film, membrane, and interface characterization data• Emulsion and foam stability datasetsPolymers, gels, and liquid crystals• Polymer network structure and rheology datasets• Hydrogel and soft network mechanics• Liquid crystal ordering and defect dynamics• Phase separation and microphase morphology dataActive and biological soft matter• Motility and collective dynamics in active particle systems• Cell membrane and biopolymer datasets• Biomimetic and bio-inspired soft material dataCross-cutting contributions• Datasets bridging multiple soft matter classes• Multi-technique or multi-scale experimental datasets• Perspectives on data sharing, reproducibility, and FAIR principles in soft matter Topic editors: Lou Kondic, Tommy Nylander Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82118/fair2-data-articles-in-soft-matter-from-granular-systems-to-complex-fluids-and-interfaces