Figshare, an online repository which enables researchers to securely host, will provide the technology to power the newly launched Human Genome Variation Database managed by Nature Publishing Group.
The data accompanies Data Reports (a new article type) published in the open access Human Genome Variation journal, providing a valuable resource for clinicians and researchers. The database allows users to search and filter genomic data by different variables, including specific disease, gene, population or region. Collating data from anonymised patients across the globe will have positive implications for clinicians and researchers trying to learn more about disease and human health. All data is licensed under a CC0 waiver.
The database will be managed by Human Genome Variation and is powered by Figshare, a technology company who work with publishers and institutions to help manage and enhance their research data. Human Genome Variation, a new open access journal from Nature Publishing Group, publishes its first Data Reports this month. Data Reports are standardised reports about genomic variation and variability, especially in relation to disease.
The fact that both the data and the journal articles are open access will facilitate data and text mining and large-scale systematic analysis, which is particularly important in this field, as most clinicians may only see one or two examples of any particular genome variant in their lifetime.
Nature Publishing Group partnered with Figshare on this project to utilise their experience of creating innovative digital academic publishing solutions.
Human Genome Variation is an online-only, open access journal launched in partnership with Japan Society of Human Genetics that contains articles and reports about variation and variability in human genomes and the consequences, implications and future impacts for the study of human genomics. An important and innovative feature of the journal is the Data Report article; these are short reports about human genome variation and variability which describe disease-causing variation and/or their frequencies. In addition, Data Reports can describe and analyse human multifactorial disease associated variations and/or their frequencies. Authors publishing in HGV are offered a choice of Creative Commons licenses.
The APC for publishing a Data Report in Human Genome Variation is 1000GBP (with waivers available in 2014). Authors are invited to deposit their dataset in the database at no extra cost, although they are welcome to deposit their dataset in other repositories too.
