Usage and impact of global biodata resources

Biodata resources constitute a critical, large-scale, and globally distributed infrastructure underpinning life science research, yet their organic growth has hindered efforts to quantify key indicators needed to justify sustainable support, including usage, impact, and interdependencies. Here, we present an updated Global Biodata Coalition inventory alongside a Total Resource Usage (TRU) dataset that integrates this inventory with two complementary literature-derived sources: data citations and informal resource name mentions extracted from full-text articles using a fine-tuned machine learning model. A unified database schema enables cross-resource comparisons, dependency network analyses, and evaluation of resource name distinctiveness.

The combined dataset captures 11.5 million formal and informal references, revealing that most resources are acknowledged informally within article text. Network analysis indicates a densely interconnected ecosystem in which Global Core Biodata Resources function as key providers and integrators, underscoring their foundational role. While full resource names are generally distinctive, widespread use of acronyms limits detectability through text mining. Together, these findings provide robust empirical evidence of a highly utilized and interconnected biodata infrastructure, highlight limitations of single-metric assessments, and underscore the need for multi-dimensional evaluation frameworks and more consistent data citation practices to support informed decision-making and long-term sustainability.

The database and analytical code described here are available on https://github.com/globalbiodata.