The NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog: standards for reusability, sustainability and diversity is a dataset published in Nucleic Acids Research (2024). On theSindex it has a DataRank of 2.8, placing it in the top 7.8% of the data-sharing corpus. It has been cited 364 times, with 100 citing works in its 1-hop citation network. Its calibrated FAIR score is 83/100.
Ranks in the top 8% 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.
“Curated data are available from the query interface ( https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/ ) and download files from https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads .”
The paper gives a web address as the data location, which is not a PID-scheme string, so the verdict is partial. [majority verdict 'partial' (4/5 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 NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog serves as a vital resource for the genetic research community”
The GWAS Catalog is a named repository listed in re3data, so the holder is a repository. [majority verdict 'yes' (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
“The NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog ( www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas ) includes all human GWA studies”
The dataset identifier appears only in body text, not as a reference-list entry, so the verdict is partial. [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
“Curated data are available from the query interface ( https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/ ) and download files from https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads .”
The statement points to a repository record (the GWAS Catalog website and download pages). [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
“currently, it contains close to 7 000 publications for >15 000 traits, from which more than 625 000 lead associations have been curated. Additionally, 85 000 full genome-wide summary statistics datasets”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The dataset's content and size are described in running prose, not in an itemised inventory, so the verdict is partial. [downgraded to 'no' — no verifiable quote from the paper]
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'
“Curated data are available from the query interface ( https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/ ) and download files from https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads .”
The text gives a route to the data with no stated precondition, so the data are openly accessible. [majority verdict 'yes' (4/5 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
“GWAS summary statistics submitted after March 2021 are made available under CC0 terms”
The paper states the data are made available under CC0 terms, which is a license, not an explicit access-level label from the standard vocabulary, so the verdict is partial. [majority verdict 'partial' (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 and no gatekeeper is named; the paper does not address controlled access for sensitive data.
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
“Curated data are available from the query interface ( https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/ )”
The text states that the data are available now but says nothing about how long they will persist. [majority verdict 'partial' (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'
“The GWAS summary statistics format (GWAS-SSF) standard was finalised and implemented in the GWAS Catalog in April 2023”
The paper names an open, community-standard format (GWAS-SSF) for the data, so the verdict is yes. [majority verdict 'yes' (3/5 passes agreed)]
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
“Trait information is mapped to terms from the Experimental Factor Ontology (EFO)”
The paper names a community data standard (EFO) applied to the data, so the verdict is yes.
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'
“genomic position data is reported against GRCh38”
The paper gives an identifier (GRCh38) for the reference genome build used, qualifying as a non-own resource identifier. [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'
“GWAS summary statistics submitted after March 2021 are made available under CC0 terms”
The paper states an open standard license (CC0) for the data, so the verdict is yes.
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 1 July 2024”
The paper uses a date to pin the snapshot of the data, but no version token, so the verdict is partial. [majority verdict 'partial' (3/5 passes agreed)]
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'
“code is available in the project's github repository ( https://github.com/EBISPOT/goci ) and Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13941165”
The paper gives a machine-resolvable locator (GitHub URL and Zenodo DOI) for the code, so the verdict is yes. [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)
“National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health [1U24HG012542-01; ‘Phenomics First’ [RM1 HG010860]”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The paper provides specific award/grant numbers attached to named funders, so the verdict is yes. [downgraded to 'partial' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'partial' (4/5 passes agreed)]
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
“use of an efficient Python library - pysam, integrating Nextflow as a workflow manager”
The paper names specific tools and software (pysam, Nextflow) used to produce the data, so the verdict is yes. [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
“Summary statistics metadata defined in the GWAS-SSF standard are presented alongside the data file in .yaml format designed to be both human and computer-readable.”
The paper states that metadata YAML files accompany the data, so a documentation object is shipped with the data. [majority verdict 'yes' (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
0.885
From this paper's citation signal
Citation Network Contribution
1.9
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 Human Genome Research Institute
Grant: 1U24HG012542-01
National Human Genome Research Institute
Grant: RM1 HG010860
Open Targets
Grant: OTAR2045
Open Targets
Grant: EBI-OT02
Open Targets
Grant: EBI-OT01
Office of the Director
Grant: R24 OD011883
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Grant: UM1DK105554
UK Economic and Social Research 878 Council
Grant: ES/T013192/1
British Heart Foundation core funding
Grant: RG/18/13/33946
British Heart Foundation core funding
Grant: RG/F/23/110103
NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre
Grant: NIHR203312
BHF Chair Award
Grant: CH/12/2/29428
NHGRI NIH HHS
Grant: U24 HG012542
British Heart Foundation
Munz Chair of Cardiovascular Prediction and Prevention (to M.I.);
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Medical Research Council
Health Data Research UK
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
National Institutes of Health
Public Health Agency
Chief Scientist Office
Economic and Social Research Council
Health and Social Care Research and Development Division
FWCI
243.38
Citation Percentile
1.0%
Citation Trend
Fields of Study
MeSH Terms
Keywords