The international nucleotide sequence database collaboration (INSDC): enhancing global participation

Abstract

The members of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC; https://insdc.org) have built systems to collect, archive and disseminate sequence data for more than four decades. The three collaborating organizations, the National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NLM-NCBI) in the United States, Research Organization of Information and Systems, National Institute of Genetics (ROIS-NIG) in Japan; and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) formalized their relationship through the adoption of an arrangement which documents their commitment to free and open access to genomic sequences. The INSDC is committed to expand the collaboration to be more representative of the global community of sequences and users. Diversifying participation through new membership will advance open science and data sharing and, in turn, drive innovation. This expansion will additionally benefit the INSDC and its broad user base by providing additional diverse perspectives as it explores emerging areas of data management, including federation, attribution and management.

Graphical Abstract

Figure 1.

Growth of numbers of sequences in the INSDC repositories. Number of assembled sequences (circle; left axis) and next generation sequencing runs (triangles; right axis)