20-05-2024

The International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) recognizes the critical importance of sequence data to research and public health, and supports global open-access sequence data sharing through collaboration. Sequence data has become an integral component of multiple life science disciplines and sequence data generation continues to increase at significant rates. With this in mind, INSDC aims to broaden its membership and attract diverse new members representing qualified nucleotide sequence databases.

In support of this effort, INSDC formalized the collaboration through the development of a Founders Arrangement and a Membership Arrangement. These documents, including new and updated content about the INSDC mission, vision, governance, and technical documentation, are now publicly available on the INSDC website at www.insdc.org to enable interested parties from around the world to evaluate their readiness to participate and enhance global sequence data sharing. Two levels of INSDC membership are possible, as described in the Membership Agreement: Full and Associate membership.

Founding Members of the INSDC will provide consultation to interested parties as prospective members will be required to demonstrate appropriate capacity, commitment, and activity in areas such as governance, technical infrastructure, data operations, and communications and engagement. Interested parties are encouraged to contact INSDC.

The INSDC is a long-standing initiative, and its Founding Members are the Research Organization of Information and Systems, National Institute of Genetics (ROIS-NIG) in Japan, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), and the National Library of Medicine-National Center for Biotechnology Information (NLM-NCBI), a component of the National Institutes of Health in the United States.