Biological database

{{Short description|Database of biological information}} thumb|Home page of a biological database called characterises functional links between proteins<ref name="pmid21045058">{{cite journal |author=Szklarczyk D|author2=Franceschini A|author3=Kuhn M|title=The STRING database in 2011: functional interaction networks of proteins, globally integrated and scored |journal=Nucleic Acids Res. |volume=39 |issue=Database issue |pages=D561–8 |date=January 2011 |pmid=21045058 |pmc=3013807 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkq973 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>|350 px|right '''Biological databases''' are libraries of biological sciences, collected from scientific experiments, published literature, high-throughput experiment technology, and computational analysis.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019|reason=removed citation to predatory publisher content}} They contain information from research areas including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microarray gene expression, and phylogenetics.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Altman RB |title=Building successful biological databases |journal=Brief. Bioinformatics |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=4–5 |date=March 2004 |pmid=15153301 |doi= 10.1093/bib/5.1.4|doi-access=free }}</ref> Information contained in biological databases includes gene function, structure, localization (both cellular and chromosomal), clinical effects of mutations as well as similarities of biological sequences and structures.

Biological databases can be classified by the '''kind of data''' they collect (see below). Broadly, there are molecular databases (for sequences, molecules, etc.), functional databases (for physiology, enzyme activities, phenotypes, ecology etc), taxonomic databases (for species and other taxonomic ranks), images and other media, or specimens (for museum collections etc.)

Databases are important tools in assisting scientists to analyze and explain a host of biological phenomena from the structure of biomolecules and their interaction, to the whole metabolism of organisms and to understanding the evolution of species. This knowledge helps facilitate the fight against diseases, assists in the development of medications, predicting certain genetic diseases and in discovering basic relationships among species in the history of life.

== Major biological databases == These tables cover a variety of notable biological databses across a wide swath of fields, specialties, data types, and use-cases. Many of these databases are collated in the ELIXIR Core Data Resource list which collects important European data resources critical to life science research.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=ELIXIR Core Data Resources {{!}} ELIXIR |url=https://elixir-europe.org/platforms/data/core-data-resources |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=elixir-europe.org |language=en}}</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ELIXIR Core Data Resources<ref name="ELIXIR-CDR">{{cite web |title=Core Data Resources |url=https://elixir-europe.org/platforms/data/core-data-resources |access-date=2026-04-08 |publisher=ELIXIR}}</ref> !Resource !Category !Host institution !Description<ref name=":0" /> |- |ArrayExpress<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=BioStudies |title=BioStudies < The European Bioinformatics Institute < EMBL-EBI |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/arrayexpress |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> |Transcriptomics |EMBL-EBI / European Nucleotide Archive<ref name=":1" /> |Functional genomics data from high-throughput experiments |- |BacDive<ref>{{Cite web |title=BacDive {{!}} The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase |url=https://bacdive.dsmz.de/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=bacdive.dsmz.de}}</ref> |Microbiology |Leibniz Institute DSMZ |Taxonomy, morphology, physiology, and ecology of bacterial and archaeal strains |- |Bgee<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Bgee: gene expression data in animals |url=https://www.bgee.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=Bgee |language=en}}</ref> |Transcriptomics |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics / University of Lausanne<ref name=":2" /> |Gene expression patterns across multiple animal species for comparative analysis |- |BioImage Archive<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=EMBL-EBI |title=Home < BioImage Archive < EMBL-EBI |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/bioimage-archive/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> |Imaging |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":3" /> |Repository of biological images, supporting the deposition and reuse of reference imaging data that underpin published research across the life sciences. |- |BioStudies<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=EMBL-EBI |title=Home < BioImage Archive < EMBL-EBI |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/bioimage-archive/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> |Metadata |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":4" /> |Descriptions of biological studies and supplementary data linking to other archives |- |BRENDA<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=BRENDA Enzyme Database |url=https://www.brenda-enzymes.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.brenda-enzymes.org |language=en}}</ref> |Enzymology |Leibniz Institute DSMZ<ref name=":5" /> |Enzyme and enzyme–ligand information curated from primary literature across all taxa |- |CATH<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=CATH: Protein Structure Classification Database at UCL |url=https://www.cathdb.info/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.cathdb.info |language=en}}</ref> |Protein Structure |University College London<ref name=":6" /> |Hierarchical domain classification of protein structures from the PDB |- |Cellosaurus<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Cellosaurus - Cell line encyclopedia |url=https://www.cellosaurus.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.cellosaurus.org}}</ref> |Cells |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics<ref name=":7" /> |Knowledge resource describing cell lines used in biomedical research |- |ChEBI<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=ChEBI - Chemical Entities of Biological Interest |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> |Biochemistry |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":8" /> |Dictionary of small molecular entities of biological interest |- |ChEMBL<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=ChEMBL - ChEMBL |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Biochemistry |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":9" /> |Bioactive drug-like small molecules with 2-D structures. calculated properties, and bioactivities |- |EGA<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=EGA European Genome-Phenome Archive - EGA European Genome-Phenome Archive |url=https://ega-archive.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=ega-archive.org |language=en}}</ref> |Genome |EMBL-EBI / CRG<ref name=":10" /> |Personally identifiable genetic and phenotypic data from biomedical research |- |EMDB<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=EMDB |title=Electron Microscopy Data Bank |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/emdb/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=Electron Microscopy Data Bank |language=en}}</ref> |Biochemical Structure |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":11" /> |Cryo-EM maps and tomograms of macromolecular complexes and subcellular structures |- |ENA<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=ENA Browser |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/home |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Sequence |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":12" /> |Nucleotide sequencing data, sequence assemblies, and functional annotation |- |Ensembl<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=Ensembl genome browser 115 |url=http://www.ensembl.org/index.html |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ensembl.org}}</ref> |Genome |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":13" /> |Genome browser for vertebrate genomes supporting comparative and regulatory genomics |- |Ensembl Genomes<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |title=Ensembl Genomes |url=http://ensemblgenomes.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=ensemblgenomes.org}}</ref> |Genome |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":14" /> |Comparative analysis and visualisation for non-vertebrate genomes |- |Europe PMC<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=Europe PMC |url=https://europepmc.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=europepmc.org}}</ref> |Literature |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":15" /> |Life-sciences articles, books, patents, and clinical guidelines |- |GWAS Catalog<ref>{{Cite web |title=GWAS Catalog |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Variation |EMBL-EBI / NHGRI<ref>{{Cite web |title=GWAS Catalog |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/docs/about |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Curated collection of human genome-wide association studies |- |HGNC<ref name=":16">{{Cite web |title=Home {{!}} HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee |url=https://www.genenames.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.genenames.org}}</ref> |Nomenclature |University of Cambridge / EMBL-EBI<ref name=":16" /> |Approved symbols, names, and families for human genes |- |Human Protein Atlas<ref name=":17">{{Cite web |title=The Human Protein Atlas |url=https://www.proteinatlas.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.proteinatlas.org}}</ref> |Proteomics |KTH Royal Institute of Technology / Karolinska Institute / Uppsala Universitet<ref name=":17" /> |Human proteome mapped across cells, tissues, and organs via multi-omics and imaging |- |IntAct<ref name=":18">{{Cite web |title=IntAct Portal |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> / MINT<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Molecular INTeraction Database – An ELIXIR Core Resource |url=https://mint.bio.uniroma2.it/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |language=en-US}}</ref> (IMEx) |Interactions |EMBL-EBI <ref name=":18" /> |Experimentally verified protein–protein and molecular interaction data |- |InterPro<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |title=InterPro |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Protein |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":19" /> |Protein families, domains, and functional sites integrated from member databases |- |JASPAR<ref name=":20">{{Cite web |title=InterPro |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/interpro/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Regulation |University of Oslo<ref name=":20" /> |Curated, non-redundant transcription factor binding profiles |- |MGnify<ref name=":21">{{Cite web |title=MGnify - EBI |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/metagenomics/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Metagenomics |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":21" /> |Assembly, analysis, and archiving of microbiome-derived nucleic-acid sequences |- |LIPID MAPS<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last1=Conroy |first1=Matthew J |last2=Andrews |first2=Robert M |last3=Andrews |first3=Simon |last4=Cockayne |first4=Lauren |last5=Dennis |first5=Edward A |last6=Fahy |first6=Eoin |last7=Gaud |first7=Caroline |last8=Griffiths |first8=William J |last9=Jukes |first9=Geoff |last10=Kolchin |first10=Maksim |last11=Mendivelso |first11=Karla |last12=Lopez-Clavijo |first12=Andrea F |last13=Ready |first13=Caroline |last14=Subramaniam |first14=Shankar |last15=O'Donnell |first15=Valerie B |date=2024-01-05 |title=LIPID MAPS: update to databases and tools for the lipidomics community |url=https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/52/D1/D1677/7321986 |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |language=en |volume=52 |issue=D1 |pages=D1677–D1682 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkad896 |issn=0305-1048 |pmc=10767878 |pmid=37855672}}</ref> |Lipidomics |Cardiff University / UCSD / Babraham Institute / Swansea University / University of Edinburgh<ref name=":22" /> |Lipid structures, properties, and biological functions |- |LPSN<ref name=":23">{{Cite web |title=LPSN - List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature |url=https://lpsn.dsmz.de/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=lpsn.dsmz.de |language=en}}</ref> |Nomenclature |Leibniz Institute DSMZ<ref name=":23" /> |Authoritative nomenclature of prokaryotes |- |Orphadata Science<ref name=":24">{{Cite web |title=Science Orphadata – Orphanet datasets |url=https://sciences.orphadata.com/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=sciences.orphadata.com}}</ref> |Disease |Inserm / French Ministry of Health<ref name=":24" /> |Computable dataset of rare diseases and orphan drugs |- |OMA<ref name=":25">{{Cite web |title=OMA Orthology database |url=https://omabrowser.org/oma/home/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=omabrowser.org |language=en}}</ref> |Orthology |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics / University of Lausanne<ref name=":25" /> |Inferred orthologs among complete genomes |- |OrthoDB<ref name=":26">{{Cite web |title=OrthoDB {{!}} genes orthologs {{!}} Zdobnov lab |url=https://www.orthodb.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.orthodb.org}}</ref> |Orthology |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics / University of Geneva<ref name=":26" /> |Orthologous protein-coding genes across a wide range of species |- |PDBe<ref name=":27">{{Cite web |title=Homepage {{!}} Protein Data Bank in Europe |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pdbe/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Structure |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":27" /> |Biological macromolecular structures |- |PomBase<ref name=":28">{{Cite web |title=PomBase |url=https://www.pombase.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.pombase.org}}</ref> |Genome |University of Cambridge / University College London / Babraham Institute<ref name=":28" /> |Structural and functional annotation for the fission yeast ''Schizosaccharomyces pombe'' |- |PRIDE<ref name=":29">{{Cite web |title=PRIDE - PRoteomics IDEntifications Database |url=https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/archive/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.ebi.ac.uk}}</ref> |Proteomics |EMBL-EBI<ref name=":29" /> |Mass-spectrometry-based proteomics identifications, quantifications, and spectra |- |Reactome<ref name=":30">{{Cite web |title=Home - Reactome Pathway Database |url=https://reactome.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=reactome.org}}</ref> |Pathways |EMBL-EBI / OICR / NYU<ref name=":30" /> |Manually curated and peer-reviewed biological pathways |- |Rhea<ref name=":31">{{Cite web |title=Rhea - reaction knowledgebase |url=https://www.rhea-db.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.rhea-db.org |language=en}}</ref> |Chemistry |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics<ref name=":31" /> |Expert-curated chemical and transport reactions of biological interest |- |SILVA<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=SILVA: Silva |url=https://www.arb-silva.de/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=www.arb-silva.de}}</ref> |Sequence |Leibniz Institute DSMZ<ref name=":32" /> |Comprehensive, quality-checked, and regularly updated datasets of aligned small and large subunit ribosomal RNA sequences for all three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya) |- |STRING<ref name=":33">{{Cite web |title=STRING: functional protein association networks |url=https://string-db.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=string-db.org}}</ref> |Interactions |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics / Novo Nordisk Foundation Center Protein Research / EMBL-EBI<ref name=":33" /> |Known and predicted protein–protein interactions |- |SWISS-MODEL<ref name=":34">{{Cite web |title=SWISS-MODEL |url=https://swissmodel.expasy.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=swissmodel.expasy.org |language=en}}</ref> |Structure |Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics / University of Basel<ref name=":34" /> |Automated protein structure homology modelling |- |UniProt<ref name=":35">{{Cite web |title=UniProt |url=https://www.uniprot.org/ |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=UniProt |language=en}}</ref> |Protein |EMBL-EBI / SIB / PIR<ref name=":35" /> |Comprehensive protein sequence and functional annotation |- |VEuPathDB<ref name=":36">{{Cite web |title=VEuPathDB |url=https://veupathdb.org/veupathdb/app |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=veupathdb.org}}</ref> |Pathogens |University of Pennsylvania / University of Georgia / University of Liverpool<ref name=":36" /> |Genomic and functional data for eukaryotic pathogens and invertebrate disease vectors |}

==Access==

Most biological databases are available through web sites that organise data such that users can browse through the data online. In addition the underlying data is usually available for download in a variety of formats. Biological data comes in many formats. These formats include text, sequence data, protein structure and links. Each of these can be found from certain sources, for example:{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} * Text formats are provided by PubMed and OMIM. * Sequence data is provided by GenBank, in terms of DNA, and UniProt, in terms of protein. * Protein structures are provided by PDB, SCOP, and CATH.

==Problems and challenges==

Biological knowledge is distributed among countless databases. This sometimes makes it difficult to ensure the '''consistency''' of information, e.g. when different names are used for the same species or different data formats. As a consequence, '''inter-operability''' is a constant challenge for information exchange. For instance, if a DNA sequence database stores the DNA sequence along the name of a species, a name change of that species may break the links to other databases which may use a different name. Integrative bioinformatics is one field attempting to tackle this problem by providing unified access. One solution is how biological databases cross-reference to other databases with accession numbers to link their related knowledge together (e.g. so that the accession number stays the same even if a species name changes). '''Redundancy''' is another problem, as many databases must store the same information, e.g. protein structure databases also contain the sequence of the proteins they cover, their sequence, and their bibliographic information.

== Model-organism databases == {{Main|Model organism database}} Species-specific databases are available for some species, mainly those that are often used in research (''model organisms''). For example, EcoCyc is an ''E. coli'' database. Other popular model organism databases include Mouse Genome Informatics for the laboratory mouse, ''Mus musculus'', the Rat Genome Database for ''Rattus'', ZFIN for ''Danio Rerio'' (zebrafish), PomBase<ref name="pmid38376816">{{cite journal | vauthors = Rutherford KM, Lera-Ramírez M, Wood V | title = PomBase: a Global Core Biodata Resource—growth, collaboration, and sustainability | journal = Genetics | volume = 227 | issue = 1 | date = May 2024 | article-number = iyae007 | pmid = 38376816 | pmc = 11075564 | doi = 10.1093/genetics/iyae007 }}</ref> for the fission yeast ''Schizosaccharomyces pombe'', FlyBase for ''Drosophila'', WormBase for the nematodes ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' and ''Caenorhabditis briggsae'', and Xenbase for ''Xenopus tropicalis'' and ''Xenopus laevis'' frogs.

== Biodiversity and species databases == [[File:Animal kingdom chart from Catalogue of Life.png|thumb|Animal groups and their number of species from the Catalogue of Life<ref>{{cite web |author=Catalogue of Life |date=2001 |title=Homepage |url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/catalogueoflife |access-date=2022-05-05 |work=Search |publisher=Species 2000 |archive-date=2022-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505190235/https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/catalogueoflife |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Numerous databases attempt to document the diversity of life on earth. A prominent example is the Catalogue of Life, first created in 2001 by Species 2000 and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Identifying and Relating Biological Concepts in the Catalogue of Life |journal=Journal of Biomedical Semantics |year=2011 |last=Jones |first=Andrew C. |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=7 |doi=10.1186/2041-1480-2-7 |pmid=22004596 |pmc=3245425 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Catalogue of Life is a collaborative project that aims to document taxonomic categorization of all currently accepted species in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/catalogueoflife#our-mission. |title=What is Catalogue of Life? |author=Catalogue of Life |work=Our Mission |publisher=Species 2000 |date=2001 |access-date=2022-05-05 |archive-date=2022-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505190235/https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/catalogueoflife#our-mission. |url-status=live }}</ref> The Catalogue of Life provides a consolidated and consistent database for researchers and policymakers to reference. The Catalogue of Life curates up-to-date datasets from other sources such as Conifer Database, ICTV MSL (for viruses), and LepIndex (for butterflies and moths). In total, the Catalogue of Life draws from 165 databases as of May 2022.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/source-datasets |title=Source Datasets |author=Catalogue of Life |publisher=Species 2000 |date=2001 |access-date=2022-05-05 |archive-date=2022-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514042628/https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/source-datasets |url-status=live }}</ref> Operational costs of the Catalogue of Life are paid for by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Illinois Natural History Survey, the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and the Smithsonian Institution.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/funding |title=Funding |author=Catalogue of Life |publisher=Species 2000 |date=2001 |access-date=2022-05-05 |archive-date=2022-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505190235/https://www.catalogueoflife.org/about/funding |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some biological databases also document geographical distribution of different species. Shuang Dai et al. created a new multi-source database to document spatial/geographical distribution of 1,371 bird species in China, as existing databases had been severely lacking in spatial distribution data for many species.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Spatialized Digital Database for All Bird Species in China |journal=Science China Life Sciences |year=2019 |last=Dai |first=Shuang |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=661–667 |doi=10.1007/s11427-018-9419-2 |pmid=30900164 |s2cid=84845653 }}</ref> Sources for this new database included books, literature, GPS tracking, and online webpage data. The new database displayed taxonomy, distribution, species info, and data sources for each species. After completion of the bird spatial distribution database, it was discovered that 61% of known species in China were found to be distributed in regions beyond where they were previously known.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Spatialized Digital Database for All Bird Species in China |journal=Science China Life Sciences |year=2019 |last=Dai |first=Shuang |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=661–667 |doi=10.1007/s11427-018-9419-2 |pmid=30900164 |s2cid=84845653 }}</ref>

== Medical databases == thumb|Foot wounds from WoundsDB<ref>{{cite web |url=https://chronicwounddatabase.eu/ |title=Chronic Wound Database |work=WoundsDB |publisher=Silesian University of Technology |date=2020 |access-date=2022-05-05 }}</ref> Medical databases are a special case of biomedical data resource and can range from bibliographies, such as PubMed, to image databases for the development of AI based diagnostic software. For instance, one such image database was developed with the goal of aiding in the development of wound monitoring algorithms.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chronic Wounds Multimodal Image Database |journal=Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics |year=2021 |last=Kręcichwost |first=Michał |volume=88 |article-number=101844 |doi=10.1016/j.compmedimag.2020.101844 |pmid=33477091 |s2cid=231676950 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Over 188 multi-modal image sets were curated from 79 patient visits, consisting of photographs, thermal images, and 3D mesh depth maps. Wound outlines were manually drawn and added to the photo datasets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://chronicwounddatabase.eu/ |title=Chronic Wound Database |work=WoundsDB |publisher=Silesian University of Technology |date=2020 |access-date=2022-05-05 }}</ref> The database was made publicly available in the form of a program called WoundsDB, downloadable from the Chronic Wound Database website.

== Publications ==

Biological databases are commonly described and updated through peer-reviewed publications, which serve both as documentation and as a means of community dissemination.

A major venue for such publications is the annual ''Nucleic Acids Research'' (NAR) Database Issue, typically published in January. This special issue presents articles describing new biological databases as well as updates to existing resources, and is accompanied by the NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection.<ref name="nar2026">{{cite journal |last1=Rigden |first1=Daniel J. |last2=Fernández |first2=Xosé M. |title=The 2026 Nucleic Acids Research database issue and the online molecular biology database collection |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |year=2026 |volume=54 |issue=D1 |pages=D1–D9 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkaf1427 |pmid=41431842 |pmc=12807761 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Dedicated journals focusing on biological data resources include ''Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation'' and ''GigaScience'', which publish articles describing databases, curated resources, and large-scale datasets, often alongside associated computational tools and workflows.<ref name="database2009">{{cite journal |last1=Landsman |first1=David |last2=Gentleman |first2=Robert |last3=Kelso |first3=Janet |last4=Ouellette |first4=B. F. Francis |title=DATABASE: A new forum for biological databases and curation |journal=Database (Oxford) |year=2009 |article-number=bap002 |doi=10.1093/database/bap002 |pmid=20157475 |pmc=2790300 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="gigascience2012">{{cite journal |last1=Kyrpides |first1=Nikos C. |last2=Andrews-Pfannkoch |first2=Catherine |last3=White |first3=Owen |title=GigaScience: a new journal for data-intensive science |journal=GigaScience |year=2012 |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=7 |doi=10.1186/2047-217X-1-7 |pmid=23587260 |pmc=3621314 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In addition, general data-focused journals such as ''Scientific Data'' publish descriptions of datasets across a wide range of scientific disciplines, including but not limited to the life sciences.

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060112045100/http://www.oxfordjournals.org/nar/database/c Interactive list of biological databases], classified by categories, from Nucleic Acids Research, 2010 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20191202045455/http://www.biodbs.info/ DBD: Database of Biological Databases] * [http://www.Biosharing.org Biosharing] (a database of biological databases) * [https://chronicwounddatabase.eu/ Chronic Wounds Database] WoundsDB * [https://www.catalogueoflife.org/ Catalogue of Life] Catalogue of Life

Category:Biological databases