Microbiome Data Release Policy

Some of the data presented here represents work in progress. It is being released by the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC) prior to project completion as a public service to allow our colleagues to search for genes or functions and speed their research. These data have not been edited and are presented "as is." You should regard the data as preliminary because it contains a higher error frequency than the final sequence. The data providers and associated funding agencies bear no responsibility for the user's reliance or interpretation of these data. The accuracy or reliability of the data is not guaranteed or warranted in any way and the providers disclaim liability of any kind.

If you use this preliminary information we request that you honor the following conditions:

  1. Please communicate your results to us so that we can incorporate them into the annotation of the final sequence.

    Contact us at microbe@hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu.

  2. Acknowledge the information obtained from BCM-HGSC in publications by stating in Materials and Methods and Acknowledgements: "Preliminary sequence data was obtained from Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center website at http://www.hgsc.bcm.edu." Also acknowledge our funding source, which is listed in each project, with a statement such as "The DNA sequence of [organism] was supported by [grant number from funding agency to PI] at the BCM-HGSC." We also request that you notify us when your manuscript is accepted and send us a pre-print of the article.

  3. Use of this data or information derived from it on a web page is permitted, providing the web page contains the statement that "Preliminary sequence data was obtained from the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center website at http://www.hgsc.bcm.edu."

    Please inform us of your web page by sending email to microbe@hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu.

  4. All other written or oral public disclosures of research using data from the BCM-HGSC should follow the acknowledgment guidelines outlined above.

  5. However, although we encourage use of this preliminary information for limited studies, we request that you not publish whole genome or chromosome scale analyses of genes or genomic data prior to the publication of the BCM-HGSC report on the final genome sequence and analysis. Contact the BCM-HGSC at microbe@hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu to discuss a waiver of this request, that could involve simple acknowledgment, co-authorship, or other methods.

These conditions aim to protect interests of BCM-HGSC staff and collaborators who are still sequencing and analyzing the unfinished genomes as part of their research. The BCM-HGSC intends to complete these genomes as promptly as funding allows and publish the results without delay. It is the intent of the BCM-HGSC to speed scientific research with release of preliminary data. It is not our intent to relinquish presenting the first reports on these genomes by allowing others to publish ahead of us.