Reminder to deposit DNA sequences

Abstract

As members of the Advisory Committee to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC), which includes the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ), ENA, and GenBank databases, we wish to remind the research community of the importance of depositing complete DNA-sequence data in these databases upon publication of their results [see also S. L. Salzberg et al., Nature , (2016)]. Indeed, most journals demand a database accession number as a condition of publication. Access to the INSDC's databases is free and unrestricted ([ 1 ][1]), enabling researchers to plan experiments and to analyze existing data. As original contributions, deposited data form part of the scientific record and are citable in the literature. Authors can also correct and update their data. These amended records may be removed from the next database release but still remain permanently available by accession number. INSDC has also created major new repositories for large data collections, notably the Sequence Read Archive at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) ([ 2 ][2]), the DDBJ Sequence Read Archive ([ 3 ][3]), and the European Nucleotide Archive at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) ([ 4 ][4]). These archive raw data from sequencing experiments, a crucial facility for reproducibility and reuse. For papers dependent on sequence data from human subjects, unrestricted data release may not be possible. In these cases, we would encourage journal editors to insist on data sharing through other repositories that are not part of INSDC, such as NCBI's Database of Genotype and Phenotype ([ 5 ][5]), EMBL-EBI's European Genome-phenome Archive ([ 6 ][6]), or DDBJ's Japanese Genotype-phenotype Archive ([ 7 ][7]). ![Figure][8] IMAGE: BEHOLDINGEYE/[ISTOCKPHOTO.COM][9] 1. [↵][10]1. G. Cochrane, 2. I. Karsch-Mizrachi, 3. T. Takagi , International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, Nucleic Acids Res 44, D48 (2016). [OpenUrl][11] 2. [↵][12][www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra][13]. 3. [↵][14] . 4. [↵][15][www.ebi.ac.uk/ena][16]. 5. [↵][17][www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap][18]. 6. [↵][19][www.ebi.ac.uk/ega/home][20]. 7. [↵][21] . [1]: #ref-1 [2]: #ref-2 [3]: #ref-3 [4]: #ref-4 [5]: #ref-5 [6]: #ref-6 [7]: #ref-7 [8]: pending:yes [9]: http://ISTOCKPHOTO.COM [10]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [11]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DInternational%2BNucleotide%2BSequence%2BDatabase%2BCollaboration%26rft.volume%253D44%26rft.spage%253DD48%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [12]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [13]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra [14]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [15]: #xref-ref-4-1 View reference 4 in text [16]: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena [17]: #xref-ref-5-1 View reference 5 in text [18]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap [19]: #xref-ref-6-1 View reference 6 in text [20]: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ega/home [21]: #xref-ref-7-1 View reference 7 in text