Biocuration - mapping resources and needs - Underlying Data

A variety of teams and individuals are involved in biocuration worldwide. However, they may not self-identify as biocurators per se, as they may be unaware of biocuration as a career path or because biocuration is only part of their role. The lack of a clear, up-to-date profile of biocuration creates challenges for organisations like ELIXIR, the ISB and GOBLET to systematically support biocurators and for biocurators themselves to develop their own careers. Therefore, the ELIXIR Training Platform launched an Implementation Study in order to i) identify communities of biocurators, ii) map the type of curation work being done, iii) assess biocuration training, and iv) draw a picture of biocuration career development. To achieve the goals of the study we carried out a global survey about the nature of biocuration work, the tools and resources that are used, training that has been received and additional training needs. To examine these topics in more detail we ran workshop-based discussions at ISB Biocuration Conference 2019 and the ELIXIR All Hands Meeting 2019. We also had guided conversations with selected people from the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute.

The following files represent the underlying data for this study:

• Pilot survey questions.docx (questionnaire sent to staff of Wellcome Genome Campus)

• Questions to guide conversations with biocurators.docx (conversation guide outlines the type of questions to be asked)

• Global survey questions.docx (globally disseminated questionnaire revised on the basis of the pilot survey)

• Global_survey_deidentified.xlsx (de-identified responses to the global survey)

  • This file includes de-identified responses to the survey questions. Responses that may lead to the identification of respondents have been redacted. Free text responses to questions 6, 14 and 15 have been categorised into tasks, topics and skills, respectively.  

• Bar graphs of global survey.xlsx (quantitative responses to multiple choice questions in the global survey. For some questions, respondents could choose more than one option)

• Tools and resources.xlsx (Tools and resources used for biocuration work and listed by the respondents of the global survey)

• Biocuration training course list.xlsx (formal training courses listed by respondents of the global survey)