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A Plan for Extending the mmCIF Dictionary

The following outlines the plan by which the evolution of the mmCIF dictionary will be managed. This plan would ensure timely additions to the dictionary, review by experts in the field, and the assurance that the dictionary will remain technically sound. The model is that of a journal.

1.0 Establishment of a Dictionary Editorial Board

1.1 An Editorial Board has been established whose role will be to review the proposed new data items. The board members will represent the broad category groups of the dictionary. The members of the board are Frank Allen, Phil Bourne, Kim Henrick, Andy Howard, Joel Sussman, and Dale Tronrud.

1.2 Paula Fitzgerald, who will serve as Editor, and Helen Berman, who will serve as Associate Editor, will be responsible for initial review of proposed new data items and for sending them out for review by the appropriate member(s) of the board.

1.3 Two technical editors, John Westbrook and Herb Bernstein, will be responsible for ensuring that the definitions are compliant with the dictionary syntax.

1.4 The editors will meet on a published schedule several times a year. The full board will meet once a year at the ACA meeting and on an ad-hoc basis as needed.

2.0 Procedures for Extending the mmCIF Dictionary

2.1 All proposed extensions to the dictionary will be submitted to the mmCIF server in the form of a dictionary entry. To facilitate this, a definition template will be made available on the mmCIF server.

2.2 The proposed definitions will receive a preliminary review by the editorial staff and will then be sent to the appropriate board member(s) for scientific content review. The reviewers will receive full dictionary definitions and will return them with corrections and/or modifications.

2.3 Once definitions have been approved they would be put into a provisonal extensions dictionary. If the proposed data item was submitted with a local data name prefix, that prefix will be removed in the entry in the extensions dictionary, but an alias to the local dictionary name (with the extension) will be retained. A policy for retentions times for these aliases is under discussion.

2.4 The provisional dictionary will be available on the mmCIF server and will be updated on a continuing basis. Members of the community at large will be encouraged to monitor the evolution of the extensions dictionary via the mmCIF web page, and to comment on all new data items via the mmCIF list server.

3.0 Proposed Timetable for Extending the mmCIF Dictionary

3.1 For review of Version 2 extensions, the meeting dates for the Editor and Associate Editor will be December 1, 1997, January 12, 1998, February 9, 1998 and March 16, 1998.

3.2 On April 1, the extensions dictionary will be sent to COMCIFS for preliminary technical review.

3.3 Full community review will begin on April 15, 1998 and conclude on May 16, 1988, at which date the extensions dictionary will be sent to COMCIFS for formal approval. Once approved, the extensions dictionary will be merged with Version 1.0 of the mmCIF dictionary, and the merged dictionary will be published as Version 2.0.

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