Researchers can now submit their own data to the African DSI DataBank

The African DSI DataBank grows from what African institutions contribute. Until now, contributing meant running a node: a server at your institution that holds its data and connects to the DataBank. Many researchers generate valuable digital sequence information (DSI) without having a node to deposit it in. Today we are opening the DataBank to them.

Any researcher can now submit their own data, and choose where it is held. Apply once as a contributor, using the same DataBank account you already have. You can submit to the Continental Hub directly, where the Continental Admin reviews each submission before it is published. Or you can submit to a node that accepts contributors, for example one in your own country, whose operators approve you. Records held at a node reach the Hub through the node’s regular sync, as every node’s records do.

You stay in control of your data. Whoever submits a record becomes its steward. As steward, you decide who may access it: anyone, regional researchers on request, only people you approve, or nobody until an embargo date you set. Every access request comes to you, and neither the Hub nor the node holding your data can loosen your choice. You name a backup steward, such as a supervisor or colleague, who takes over if your account ever closes.

Every record is citable at once. Each published record receives a permanent DataBank accession (AFDSI-…) with a citation page, showing your name and ORCID iD as its steward. If you wish, you can also send a public record on to the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) for an international accession. This happens only with your consent, record by record.

What you can submit. You can submit genome and transcriptome assemblies, raw sequencing reads, metagenomics and eDNA raw data, imaging datasets, and protein, proteomics and metabolomics records. Large files upload in parts, so a dropped connection resumes where it stopped instead of starting again. When you submit an assembly, the DataBank checks the file and confirms the species name against NCBI Taxonomy. It also records the collection details needed for international archiving.

Your data can move with you. If you later want a genome or transcriptome held somewhere else, for example at a new node in your country, you can move it. It keeps its accession and its citations. Where it was keeps only a short notice saying where it went.

Some data are not accepted. We do not accept human-derived data. Please remove any human reads from metagenomics and eDNA data before you submit, and confirm this with each submission. You also confirm that you have the right to share the data, in line with the access and benefit-sharing obligations that apply to them.

How to start

1. Sign in, or create an account, at hub.africandsidatabank.africa.
2. Open Operations → Contribute data → Submit your data.
3. Choose the Continental Hub or a node near you, and apply.
4. Read the submission terms.

Once approved, you can submit and follow everything under My submissions.

Institutions that run a node can choose to accept contributors too. They switch it on under Tier status → Contributors in their node’s site. Questions are welcome through Contact us.