LitCovid: an open database of COVID-19 literature is a dataset published in Nucleic Acids Research (2020). On theSindex it has a DataRank of 6.9, placing it in the top 2.7% of the data-sharing corpus. It has been cited 276 times, with 100 citing works in its 1-hop citation network. Its calibrated FAIR score is 50/100.
Ranks in the top 3% for downstream scientific impact
Linked data & code
DataRank reads this dataset's downstream impact straight off the citation graph — no black box, no proprietary weighting. How is this computed?
FAIR checklist signals are shown for context only and do not affect DataRank scoring.
Full FAIR picture · advisory
The headline score is computed from the scored criteria — the fact-shaped checks (a repository, an accession, a licence) that two independent models agree on. The advisory criteria below are real FAIR guidance but rest on judgment calls that models read differently, so they inform without moving the number.
“LitCovid can be accessed via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/ .”
The paper provides a URL for the dataset, not a persistent identifier scheme.
RDA-F1-01D — FAIR Data Maturity Model: 'Data is identified by a persistent identifier' (priorit · RDA-F1-02D — FAIR Data Maturity Model: 'Data is identified by a globally unique identifier' · FsF-F1-02D — F-UJI/FAIRsFAIR: 'Data is assigned a persistent identifier'
“LitCovid can be accessed via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/ .”
The holder is the LitCovid database at NCBI, not a standard repository name. [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 passes agreed)]
RDA-F4-01M — FAIR Data Maturity Model: metadata is offered so it can be harvested and indexed ( · NIH DMS Policy Element 4 (NOT-OD-21-014) — name the repository where data will be archived · NSTC Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories (2022) — 'Long-Term Sustainability', 'Reten
“LitCovid can be accessed via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/ .”
The dataset identifier appears only in the body text, not in the reference list. [majority verdict 'partial' (4/5 passes agreed)]
FORCE11 Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (2014) — data should be cited as a first- · RDA-F3-01M — metadata clearly and explicitly includes the identifier of the data it describes · FsF-F3-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata includes the identifier of the data it describes'
Advisory · not in the published score
“LitCovid is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement. LitCovid can be accessed via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/coronavirus/.”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The data availability statement points to the public website of the repository (NCBI) with a URL, which is a link to archived data in a public repository (Colavizza category 3). [downgraded to 'partial' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 passes agreed)]
Colavizza, Hrynaszkiewicz, Staden, Whitaker & McGillivray (2020), 'The citation advantage of li · Springer Nature research data policy — Data Availability Statements: standard statement templat · RDA-F3-01M — metadata clearly and explicitly includes the identifier of the data it describes
“The entire set of articles and curated data in LitCovid are publicly available”
The dataset content is described in running prose without an itemised inventory.
RDA-F2-01M — 'Rich metadata is provided to allow discovery' (priority Essential) · FsF-F2-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata includes descriptive core elements to support data findability' · FsF-R1-01MD — F-UJI: 'Metadata specifies the content of the data'
“LitCovid is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement.”
The paper states no precondition; the data are freely accessible.
RDA-A1.1-01D — 'Data is accessible through a free access protocol' · FsF-A1-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata contains access level and access conditions of the data' · NSTC Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories (2022) — 'Free and Easy Access'
Advisory · not in the published score
“LitCovid is free and open to all users”
The paper labels the access level as 'free and open' for the data.
FsF-A1-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata contains access level and access conditions of the data' · RDA-A1-01M — metadata contains information to enable the user to get access to the data · COAR Controlled Vocabularies — Access Rights v1.0 (open / embargoed / restricted / metadata-onl
The data are not sensitive; no gatekeeper is mentioned.
NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy (NOT-OD-14-124) — controlled-access via a Data Access Committee · RDA-A1.2-01D — 'Data is accessible through an access protocol that supports authentication and · NIH DMS Policy Element 5 (NOT-OD-21-014) — Access, Distribution, or Reuse Considerations (conse
“All of the articles and associated curation data in LitCovid are freely available”
The paper does not state a retention period or persistence commitment. [majority verdict 'no' (3/5 passes agreed)]
NIH DMS Plan Element 4 (NOT-OD-21-014) — Data Preservation, Access, and Associated Timelines · NSTC Desirable Characteristics (2022), Organizational Infrastructure: 'Retention Policy' · RDA-A2-01M — 'Metadata is guaranteed to remain available after data is no longer available'
“Publications can be downloaded in (i) TSV format to be processed by automated software, (ii) RIS format to be imported into bibliography reference software and (iii) JSON/XML format for data and text mining.”
The paper names TSV, RIS, JSON, and XML, all open formats.
FsF-R1.3-02D — F-UJI: 'Data is available in a file format recommended by the target research co · RDA-R1.3-02D — data is expressed in a machine-understandable community standard · RDA-I1-01D — data uses a knowledge representation expressed in a standardised format
Advisory · not in the published score
“Synonymous tokens are mapped to each other when applicable using those extracted from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).”
The paper names MeSH as a community standard vocabulary.
RDA-R1.3-01M — 'Metadata complies with a community standard' (priority Essential) · RDA-R1.3-01D — 'Data complies with a community standard' · RDA-I2-01M — '(Meta)data use vocabularies that follow FAIR principles'
“(PMID:32449128)”
The paper includes a PubMed ID for an external article used as an example. [majority verdict 'yes' (3/5 passes agreed)]
RDA-I3-01M — '(meta)data include references to other (meta)data' · RDA-I3-03M — 'metadata includes qualified references to other metadata' · FsF-I3-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata includes links between the data and its related entities'
No licence is named for the data; only the article licence is mentioned.
RDA-R1.1-01M — 'Metadata includes information about the licence under which the data can be reu · RDA-R1.1-02M — 'Metadata refers to a standard reuse licence' · RDA-R1.1-03M — 'Metadata refers to a machine-understandable reuse licence'
“retrieved on 21 September 2020”
A date is given for a snapshot, but no version token.
DataCite Metadata Schema 4.6 — the 'Version' property · RDA-R1.2-01M — provenance information (which version was used is provenance) · NSTC Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories (2022) — 'Provenance', 'Retention Policy'
No code repository or DOI is provided for the study's code.
NIH DMS Policy Element 2 (NOT-OD-21-014) — 'Related Tools, Software and/or Code' · FAIR4RS Principles v1.0 (Chue Hong et al., 2022; RDA/FORCE11/ReSA) — FAIR Principles for Resear · FORCE11 Software Citation Principles (Smith, Katz & Niemeyer, 2016, PeerJ CS 2:e86)
“Intramural Research Program of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.”
A funder is named, but no award number is given.
DataCite Metadata Schema 4.6 — 'FundingReference' property (funderName, funderIdentifier, award · Crossref Funder Registry — canonical funder identifiers for funding metadata · RDA-F2-01M — rich metadata provided to allow discovery (funding is part of the descriptive reco
Advisory · not in the published score
“LitSuggest ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/research/litsuggest/ )”
The paper names specific tools and platforms used in data production. [majority verdict 'yes' (4/5 passes agreed)]
RDA-R1.2-01M — 'Metadata includes provenance information according to community- specific standa · FsF-R1.2-01M — F-UJI: 'Metadata includes provenance information about data creation or generati · W3C PROV-O (W3C Recommendation, 2013) — the entity/activity/agent model of provenance
“eight broad topics (general information, mechanism, transmission, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, case report, or epidemic forecasting)”
Variable definitions are given inside the article, not in a separate documentation object. [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 passes agreed)]
RDA-R1-01M — '(Meta)data are richly described with a plurality of accurate and relevant attribu · FsF-R1-01MD — F-UJI: 'Metadata specifies the content of the data' · NIH DMS Policy Element 3 (NOT-OD-21-014) — Standards (documentation and metadata to accompany t
Calibrated FAIR score — a parallel quality metric, independent of the DataRank citation score. See the full evaluation →
Base Score Contribution
0.844
From this paper's citation signal
Citation Network Contribution
6.1
From 100 citing papers with measurable signal
Ranked by each citer's contribution to N(p) — log1p(Cq) divided by its reference count — out of 100 citers.
National Institutes of Health
Intramural Research Program of the National Library of Medicine
NLM NIH HHS
FWCI
16.62
Citation Percentile
1.0%
Influential Citations
14
Citation Trend
Fields of Study
MeSH Terms
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goals
Additional file 1 of COVID-19 GPH: tracking the contribution of genomics and precision health to the COVID-19 pandemic response
Additional file 1 of COVID-19 GPH: tracking the contribution of genomics and precision health to the COVID-19 pandemic response
Additional file 1 of CoQUAD: a COVID-19 question answering dataset system, facilitating research, benchmarking, and practice
Additional file 1 of CoQUAD: a COVID-19 question answering dataset system, facilitating research, benchmarking, and practice
Additional file 1 of Classifying literature mentions of biological pathogens as experimentally studied using natural language processing
Additional file 1 of Classifying literature mentions of biological pathogens as experimentally studied using natural language processing
FAIRsharing record for: LitCovid
Summary of COVID-19 KGs