FAQ

Prior to the birth of the GISAID Initiative, many scientists hesitated to share influenza data through traditional public-domain data archives, in part due to their legitimate concern about being scooped, a term frequently used when peers using data, are able to publish scholarly articles more quickly than they themselves are able to. In some cases, their scientific contributions would also fail to be properly acknowledged, or recognized.

Additionally, some governments were concerned, about the loss of ownership over any intellectual property rights potentially residing in such data, and – particularly for low- and middle-income countries – will wish to ensure that they can secure access to new vaccines or medicines developed on the basis of that cooperation.

The GISAID Initiative took into account these concerns and provides since 2008 the open access EpiFlu™ database, which is governed by an enforceable sharing mechanism, to offer the public an alternative, to traditional public-domain archives such as GenBank, where access to data takes place anonymously and submitters’ rights are not protected.

See: Pearson H. Competition in biology: It's a scoop! Nature 2003; DOI: 10.1038/news031124-9

All users of the EpiFlu™ database are issued personal access credentials after having provided their identity and agreed to terms of use that govern the GISAID sharing mechanism.  This requirement is not only essential to help uphold the integrity of the GISAID user community, but necessary to enforce the GISAID sharing mechanism that assures reciprocity of the data for future generations

Registered users can upload data relating to sequences, clinical manifestations in humans, epidemiology, observations in poultry and other animals, etc. These data will be accessible to all other registered users, but not to others unless they have agreed to the same terms of use. This maintains confidentiality of the data.

The data can be used to publish results if the publication acknowledges the originating laboratory and the authors agree to collaborate with the data provider in further analysis and research.The data can also be used to develop vaccines and other interventions.

While Data in GISAID are publicly accessible, Submitters do not forfeit their rights (IPR) to the Data they deposit in GISAID. All rights are explicitly preserved and may not be altered under the license provided through GISAID's Terms of Use. 

Genetic sequences and virus metadata uploaded and released to the EpiFlu™ database are openly accessible to the public without delay.

No. GISAID policies do not permit the storage of restricted sequences in its EpiFlu™ database to ensure the rapid sharing and access to all influenza sequences for the public.

Yes. The unique identifiers of influenza viruses and their genetic sequences deposited in GISAID (epi accession numbers) are accepted without limitation by peer-reviewed journals in the submission of manuscripts for publication. For more information of publishing using GISAID accession numbers click here.

No. Registered users of GISAID may reference genetic sequence information when submitting a manuscript for publication, as long as the genetic data is not released. This is why GISAID also provides for unique identifiers, known as the epi accession numbers to refer to the underlying sequence information.

Since May 2008, data of all human influenza vaccine reference strains, selected by the WHO Collaborating Centers for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza are shared through GISAID’s EpiFlu™ database, facilitating the WHO CC’s biannual vaccine strain selection process. These data of all human influenza vaccine reference strains have been openly accessible - without limitation - to the public on the EpiFlu™ database.

However the knowledge, as to which influenza strain may have been tagged or indentified by a WHO CC’s as a potential candidate reference strain, remained at all times a privilege, limited to WHO CC members, albeit the genetic data itself remained fully accessible to the public at all times.

Since the launch of GISAID’s EpiFlu™ database in May 2008, all genetic sequence data for specific vaccine viruses that the WHO recommended for inclusion in influenza vaccines, are also available in public domain databases. GISAID plays no role in the release of this data, as it remains the sole privilege of the data’s submitter in accordance with GISAID principles.

No. GISAID does not promote the release of data to databases where access to data is anonymous and the rights of the submitter are relinquished.  GISAID already provides the public with open access to data in a transparent way.

GISAID was specifically created as an alternative to public-domain archives (e.g. Genbank) as they do not provide reliable mechanisms to address the concerns of data depositors seeking a transparent exchange of data and the upholding of scientific etiquette.

GISAID does not offer a mechanism to release data to any other database, since all data in GISAID are already accessible to the public.

GISAID provides users with an automated process to recover either the password or username. 

In the event a user no longer has access to the email used in the original registration, users may contact GISAID directly for further instructions in an effort to continue using their original access credentials.