Principles of service provision
Open - Our data and tools are freely available, without restriction. The only exception is potentially identifiable human genetic information, for which access depends on research consent agreements.
Compatible - EMBL-EBI is a world leader in the development of global bioinformatics standards, which are key to data sharing.
Comprehensive - Thanks to our many data-sharing agreements, EMBL-EBI resources are comprehensive and up to date. We work with publishers to ensure that biological data must be placed in a public repository and cross-referenced in the relevant publication.
Portable - All of our data and many of our software systems can be downloaded and installed locally.
High quality - Our databases are enhanced through annotation: highly qualified biologists add value to databases by incorporating features of genes or proteins from other sources, and automated annotation is subjected to rigorous quality control.