LOS ALAMOS, N.M.—A British journal has taken a carrot-and-stick approach to encourage scientists to make their data on nucleotide sequences available quickly to the international research community. The controversial approach is being watched closely by officials of GenBank, the U.S.-funded project here that is expanding its data collection efforts.
Beginning January 1, the journal Nucleic Acids Research will require authors to prove that their data have already been submitted to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, West Germany, GenBank’s European counterpart and ally in the gene-sequencing project.
" “Most people won’t do it unless they are forced to,” said Richard Walker, the journal’s European editor and senior lecturer in the chemistry department at Birming ham University in England. “The last thing they want is their own data. What they want is everyone s.”
Walker’s plan requires scientists to give an accession number from EMBL as proof of their submission. ...
