Box 1. Survival of the fittest?
From the following article:
Zeeya Merali & Jim Giles
Nature 435, 1010-1011(23 June 2005)
doi:10.1038/4351010a
Nature contacted 89 databases listed in the Molecular Biology Database Collection (Nucl. Acids Res.28 1–7; 2000) to see how many still have funding five years on. Of these, 51 reported that they are struggling financially. Seven of these have closed; the rest are being updated sporadically in their owners' spare time.
Not all these databases necessarily deserve to receive continued funding, especially as technology advances and competing resources are set up. But bioinformaticists are concerned by the sheer number that cannot find the money to provide an ongoing service.
Zeeya Merali
