No abstract

The Crystallography Open Database (COD), which is a project that aims to gather all available inorganic, metal-organic and small organic molecule structural data in one database, is described. The database adopts an openaccess model. The COD currently contains 80 000 entries in crystallographic information file format, with nearly full coverage of the International Union of Crystallography publications, and is growing in size and quality.

Using an open-access distribution model, the Crystallography Open Database (COD, http://www.crystallography.net) collects all known ‘small molecule / small to medium sized unit cell’ crystal structures and makes them available freely on the Internet. As of today, the COD has aggregated ∼150 000 structures, offering basic search capabilities and the possibility to download the whole database, or parts thereof using a variety of standard open communication protocols. A newly developed website provides capabilities for all registered users to deposit published and so far unpublished structures as personal communications or pre-publication depositions. Such a setup enables extension of the COD database by many users simultaneously. This increases the possibilities for growth of the COD database, and is the first step towards establishing a world wide Internet-based collaborative platform dedicated to the collection and curation of structural knowledge.