Virus taxonomy: the database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a dataset published in Nucleic Acids Research (2025). On theSindex it has a DataRank of 0.564, placing it in the top 34.7% of the data-sharing corpus. It has been cited 28 times, with 28 citing works in its 1-hop citation network. Its calibrated FAIR score is 81/100.
Ranks in the top 35% 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.
“Files containing the current taxonomic data, the MSL and VMR spreadsheets, and all publicly released source code have been assigned DOIs and are available from the ICTV Zenodo data repository”
The paper explicitly states that the data have been assigned DOIs, a persistent identifier scheme. [majority verdict 'yes' (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'
“Files containing the current taxonomic data, the MSL and VMR spreadsheets, and all publicly released source code have been assigned DOIs and are available from the ICTV Zenodo data repository”
The paper names Zenodo as the repository holding the data, which is a recognised data repository.
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
“A second spreadsheet, the Virus Metadata Resource (VMR; https://ictv.global/vmr , https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15042309 ; “Taxonomy” menu > “Virus Metadata Resource”), containing a list of virus exemplars for each virus species, is also available.”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The dataset's identifier (DOI) appears only in the body text, not as a reference-list entry. [downgraded to 'no' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'no' (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
“Files containing the current taxonomic data, the MSL and VMR spreadsheets, and all publicly released source code have been assigned DOIs and are available from the ICTV Zenodo data repository”
The statement points to a repository record with DOIs, matching Colavizza category 3 (link to archived data in a public repository).
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
“Files containing the current taxonomic data, the MSL and VMR spreadsheets, and all publicly released source code have been assigned DOIs and are available from the ICTV Zenodo data repository”
The dataset's content is described in running prose (a sentence) but without an itemised inventory such as a section, table, or list. [majority verdict 'partial' (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'
“Registration and logging in to the website are not required to access any of the available data or resources.”
The paper gives a route to the data with no stated precondition; the data are stated to be accessible without registration or login.
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
“Registration and logging in to the website are not required to access any of the available data or resources.”
The paper describes an action (no registration required) from which the access level (open access) can be inferred, but does not use an explicit access-level label like 'open access'. [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
“Registration and logging in to the website are not required to access any of the available data or resources.”
The study's data are non-sensitive virus taxonomy data, and no gatekeeper is named because the data are openly accessible without any access control.
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
“Files containing the current taxonomic data, the MSL and VMR spreadsheets, and all publicly released source code have been assigned DOIs and are available from the ICTV Zenodo data repository”
The paper states that the data are currently available but does not specify a persistence commitment or a future availability timing. [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 application returns a summary of the BLAST hits along with an HTML file containing the sequence alignments and a CSV file containing the BLAST hit statistics.”
The only format token ('CSV') is mentioned for a tool output, not for the released dataset; no format is named for the data itself. [majority verdict 'no' (4/5 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
“The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) develops the official taxonomy for all viruses.”
The ICTV virus taxonomy is a community standard for virus classification, and the data themselves are that taxonomy. [majority verdict 'yes' (3/5 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'
“Entries include the virus name, isolate designation, suggested abbreviation, GenBank accession number(s), segment names, genome composition, and host or sample source.”
The paper includes GenBank accession numbers as identifiers for external resources (genome sequences) that the data references. [majority verdict 'yes' (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'
“Unless otherwise noted, all data, source code, and other information provided by the ICTV are provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license”
The paper attaches an open standard licence (CC BY 4.0) to the data.
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'
“MSL40”— not found in the paper; verdict downgraded
The paper includes version tokens such as 'MSL40' in Table 2, indicating a specific release. [downgraded to 'partial' — no verifiable quote from the paper] [majority verdict 'partial' (2/5 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'
“The application code, database schema, and data dumps of all database tables that make the data programmatically accessible are available from public GitHub repositories ( https://github.com/ICTV-Virus-Knowledgebase ).”
The paper gives a machine-resolvable locator (GitHub URL) for the study's own 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)
“Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24AI162625.”
The paper includes an award/grant number (U24AI162625) attached to a named funder.
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 paper does not name specific instruments or software used to produce the taxonomic data; the process is described in generic terms. [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
“Entries include the virus name, isolate designation, suggested abbreviation, GenBank accession number(s), segment names, genome composition, and host or sample source.”
The variable definitions are provided inside the article text rather than in a separate documentation object shipped with the data. [majority verdict 'partial' (4/5 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
0.505
From this paper's citation signal
Citation Network Contribution
0.0587
From 6 citing papers with measurable signal
Ranked by each citer's contribution to N(p) — log1p(Cq) divided by its reference count — out of 28 citers.
National Institutes of Health
Grant: U24AI162625
MeSH Terms