Friends: Please spread the word among all new biologists and specialists in bioinformatics. Thanks and best wishes. Arun ------- Advice for OA database maintainers The January 2007 issue of Nucleic Acids Research is devoted to databases, mostly OA databases. (Thanks to bbgm.) From Alex Batemen's editorial introduction to the issue: The 2007 Database Issue of Nucleic Acids Research is the fourteenth in a series dedicated to databases in the field of molecular biology. These databases are essential resources for experimental and computational biologists alike and this compilation provides descriptions and updates of the most important of these databases, and serves to introduce newly compiled resources that provide specialist information in the biological area. The current issue is the largest yet and presents 68 new databases and updates of 106 existing databases. The 2007 Database Issue is not included in the print subscription to NAR. Instead, the Database Issue is freely available online to all under NAR's open access model. However, print copies are available for separate purchase by institutions and individuals.... Having now edited the database issue for 4 years and carefully inspected over a thousand different biological databases. I feel I am well placed to give advice to prospective authors. There are many important aspects to any web accessible database that might be published in [a future edition of] this issue.... Do attribute the original sources of derived data. Do make sure that you are not breaching any license terms by redistributing data.... Do make data available for bulk download as flat files or relational database tables with associated documentation. Web services and DAS are becoming popular ways to make databases programmatically available. Making these available can stop your website being ground to a halt by users trying to screen scrape all your data. Do allow users to provide feedback on your data and submit new data.... ___________________________________________________________ New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes. http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.