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Biospecimens are recognized as critical components of biomedical research, from basic studies, to clinical trials and epidemiologic investigations. Biorepositories have existed in various forms for over 150 years, from early small collections in pathology laboratories to modern automated facilities managing millions of samples. As collaborative science has developed it has been recognized that biospecimens must be of consistent quality. Recent years have seen a proliferation of best practices and the recognition of the field of “biospecimen science.” The future of this field will depend on the development of more evidence-based practices in both the research and clinical settings. As the field matures, educating a new generation of biospecimen/biobanking scientists will be an important need.

Quality specimens from biobanks are key resources to support reproducible research. Sustaining biobanks requires robust management. We recently published a pilot survey that indicated that over half the participating biobanks had business plans in place and another third were working on business planning. While the results provided a clue to the status of business planning in biobanking, it was concluded that a longer and more indepth survey and analysis were required. In April 2017, an extended survey was distributed worldwide in English, French, Chinese, German, and Spanish, through multiple channels. The survey was built using the Survey Monkey tool. Our hypothesis was that those biobanks that already have a business plan also have a more professional management structure. The questions were designed to understand more details about each biobank's business operations and communications. A total of 276 biobanks participated (China 65, France 40, United States 34, Spain 27, Germany 24, Australia 23, and rest of the world 63). About two thirds of the biobanks were established in the last 10 years. The responses provided data on the size of biobanks answering the survey, their status of business planning, and how and through what mediums they are communicating with customers. Biobanks with a business plan or preparing to have one showed a clear trend of having a customer strategy for marketing the samples and communicating with customers. No trend could be seen regarding websites and activities in social media. We confirmed our hypothesis that biobanks that have or are in the process of preparing a business plan are showing a trend toward more professional structures. In the biobanking community, the business mind-set and use of the business plan as a management tool have not quite arrived.

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