Contribute data

The DataBank grows from what African institutions contribute. Data are deposited through nodes: each institution's own copy of the DataBank, which keeps its data and decides what it shares. Here is the right route for you. Please don't send data files by email: a deposit through these routes keeps each record's origin, terms and credit with it.

Your institution runs a DataBank node

Deposit on your institution's node: it takes every data type, keeps your data on your institution's own server, and shares what you choose with the Continental Hub at its next sync. Ask your node's operator (often the data or IT team) for an account there. Not sure whether your institution runs one? Contact us and we'll tell you.

You operate a node

Upload on your own node, for every data type. For these, you can also submit directly on the Hub, logged in with your operator account; each submission is reviewed before it's published:

Genomes and transcriptomes (assemblies (FASTA), for contributors)
Raw data and imaging datasets (large files, for contributors)
Proteins (translated from a genome already on the Hub)
Proteomics datasets
Chemical profiles
Metabolic profiles
Field & specimen images
Cellular & molecular imaging datasets

The forms appear on those pages once you're logged in as a node operator (or an approved contributor, below). The Node Operator Handbook covers uploads, bulk imports and using files already on your server.

You have no node: submit your data yourself

As a researcher you can submit to the Continental Hub directly, or to a node that accepts contributors (for example one in your country): you choose. You decide who may access what you publish, and each record gets a DataBank accession. Submit your data · My submissions

Your institution has no node yet

Your institution can run one: apply to run a node. It needs a small server, and the handbook walks through it. Meanwhile you can submit your data yourself, or contact us (choose "Establishing a Node - contributing data") and we'll help you find a route, for example a node in your country or region.

Your data are already in a public archive

The Hub brings in records of African origin from the international public sequence and biodiversity archives. If yours are there but not yet on the Hub, you don't need to send the files: send us their accession numbers and we'll add them, credited to their source.

Curating, rather than depositing

You can also contribute expertise: curators check published evidence for the DataBank's pathogen–reservoir associations and are credited for each curation. See Curation.

What you'll be asked for

The species, and the country of origin: where the material was collected.
Who may access it (its access tier: public, or only on approved request) and a licence.
For public records, your declaration that the data may be shared as you've set them and that the access-and-benefit-sharing obligations that apply have been met. See Benefit-sharing.

Raw data stay on the node that holds them. The Hub receives descriptions and derived results, and a copy of raw data only if that node consents (how transfers work). See also the terms of use.

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Contribute data

Your institution runs a DataBank node

You operate a node

Upload on your own node, for every data type. For these, you can also submit directly on the Hub, logged in with your operator account; each submission is reviewed before it's published:

What you'll be asked for

The species, and the country of origin: where the material was collected.

Who may access it (its access tier: public, or only on approved request) and a licence.

For public records, your declaration that the data may be shared as you've set them and that the access-and-benefit-sharing obligations that apply have been met. See Benefit-sharing.

Raw data stay on the node that holds them. The Hub receives descriptions and derived results, and a copy of raw data only if that node consents (how transfers work). See also the terms of use.