The aim of the dataset package is to make tidy datasets easier to release, exchange and reuse. It organizes and formats data frame R objects into well-referenced, well-described, interoperable datasets into release and reuse ready form. We apply a subjective, R language compatible interpretation of the W3C Data Cube Vocabulary based on the statistical SDMX data cube model1. We enrich these statistical data exchange definition with similar definitions from information science and the exchange of scientific resources on open science repositories by applying the Dublin Core and DataCite metadata specifications for R attributes to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of the datasets. Read this document on the website of the dataset R package: https://dataset.dataobservatory.eu/articles/motivation.html