Future Outlook for Databases from the Perspective of Bioresources Databases

Abstract

Databases, like journals, are now an essential component of our research activities. However, the maintenance of databases and the timely, accurate, and complete incorporation into them of the wealth of data being created daily through scientific activities represent a difficult problem.I have been working on bioresources databases and come to appreciate the need for closer links between journals and databases to improve the scientific value of databases. For example, it is frequently difficult to identify experimental materials from articles in journals. In experimental science, it is vital that one scientist’s experiments are readily reproducible by others; this requires an environment that provides other scientists with ready access to identical experimental materials. This could become possible if journal requires a database address and/or an idendifier of the material as a prerequisite of publication. There are also problems in the maintenance and management of gene lists. I believe that a dramatic improvement in this field would also be possible if database submission system were established in cooperation with journals, databases and communities.In another regard, I have high expectations for ontology to make efficient use of databases. Bioresources databases deal with various biological species, such as animals, plants, and microorganisms. Differences in technical terms and in descriptions arising from differences in biological species can be overcome by means of ontology.On the basis of my experiences in the field of bioresources databases, I will present my talk with a focus on the need for strong cooperation between databases and journals, and on my expectations for ontology.