Genenames.org: the HGNC resources in 2023 is a dataset published in Nucleic Acids Research (2022). On theSindex it has a DataRank of 5.5, placing it in the top 3.8% of the data-sharing corpus. It has been cited 544 times, with 100 citing works in its 1-hop citation network. Its calibrated FAIR score is 60/100.
Ranks in the top 4% for downstream scientific impact
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.
“HGNC services are freely available at https://www.genenames.org/”
The dataset is identified by a URL (web address) rather than a persistent identifier scheme like DOI or accession. [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 passes agreed)]
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'
“The HGNC database is freely available to all via the web without the need to register or login.”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The HGNC database is a curated resource listed in FAIRsharing, acting as a repository for gene nomenclature data. [downgraded to 'partial' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'partial' (2/5 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
“HGNC services are freely available at https://www.genenames.org/”
The dataset identifier (URL) appears only in the body text (Data Availability section), not in the reference list. [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 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
“HGNC services are freely available at https://www.genenames.org/ .”
The data-availability statement points to the HGNC website, which is a public repository for the database, qualifying as a link to archived data. [majority verdict 'yes' (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 HGNC database (www.genenames.org) currently contains over 43 000 approved gene symbols, over 19 200 of which are assigned to protein-coding genes, 14 000 to pseudogenes and nearly 9000 to non-coding RNA genes.”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The dataset's content and size are described in running prose, without an itemized inventory of files or variables. [downgraded to 'no' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'no' (3/5 passes agreed)]
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'
“The HGNC database is freely available to all via the web without the need to register or login”
The paper states unconditional, free access without any precondition. [majority verdict 'yes' (3/5 passes agreed)]
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
“freely available”
The paper explicitly states that the HGNC database is 'freely available' to all, which is a label for open access. [majority verdict 'yes' (4/5 passes agreed)]
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 or human-subject, so no gatekeeper is needed; the criterion is not applicable.
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
No sentence in the paper states when the data become available or how long they persist; only current availability is mentioned.
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'
“All data is available for download in both TXT and JSON format.”
The data are available in open, community-standard formats (TXT and JSON).
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
“The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) assigns unique symbols and names to human genes.”
The HGNC is a community standard for gene nomenclature, registered in FAIRsharing, and applied to the data. [majority verdict 'yes' (4/5 passes agreed)]
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'
The paper references many external resources but does not provide identifiers (e.g., accession numbers, DOIs) for those resources that the data depends on; only URLs are given. [majority verdict 'no' (4/5 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'
The paper only states the article is under CC BY 4.0, but does not attach a license to the data itself (the HGNC database).
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'
“as of 10 August 2022”
A date is provided to identify the snapshot of the data, but no version token is given.
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'
“HGNC code is available at the GitHub repository ( https://github.com/HGNC )”
A machine-resolvable locator (GitHub URL) is provided for the study's own code. [majority verdict 'yes' (4/5 passes agreed)]
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)
“208349/Z/17/Z”
A specific award number (Wellcome Trust grant) is provided alongside the funder name.
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
The text describes curation processes generically and does not name specific instruments, software, or kits used to produce the data. [majority verdict 'no' (3/5 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
No documentation object (README, codebook) shipped with the data is named, and no variable-definition table exists inside the article. [majority verdict 'no' (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
0.945
From this paper's citation signal
Citation Network Contribution
4.5
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
Grant: 5U24HG003345-16
The Nomenclature of Human and Vertebrate Genes
Wellcome Trust
Grant: 208349
The Nomenclature of Human and Vertebrate Genes
Fields of Study
Keywords