International Union of Crystallography

IUCr principles and policies

This page lists statements regarding the principles and policies central to the fulfillment of the mission of the IUCr.

Open Data

[booklet cover]

In response to the 2015 Science International Accord Open Data in a Big Data World, the IUCr has prepared a position paper that provides a case study of best practice emerging in one particular field.

Open Access

In response to a call for input on Open Access to the 31st General Assembly of ICSU in 2014, Professor John Helliwell, IUCr Representative to ICSTI and CODATA, has drawn up two briefing papers, available from this page.

Global Information Commons for Science

In response to the prospectus for a multi-stakeholder Global Information Commons for Science Initiative, the IUCr has prepared a formal statement for submission by its Representatives to the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI). This response and a position paper providing further details of the response are available from this web site.

Scientific publications

In response to the public invitation to submit evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee inquiry into scientific publications, the IUCr contributed a written submission Publishing Crystallography Journals in the Electronic Environment that summarises the Union's current practice and policy in the production and distribution of primary research journals.

Gender equity and diversity

The IUCr is committed to achieving gender equity and diversity (that mirrors our crystallography community) in all its endeavours and activities. A key aspect of the IUCr mission is to ensure our community fosters inclusion, ensures mutual respect, and embraces diversity. To help achieve its diversity goals, the IUCr has developed a code of conduct, which applies to all its endorsed or funded activities, and a Gender Equity and Diversity Statement.

Research assessment

As a scientific union, the IUCr wishes to promote best practice in the assessment of scientific research by institutions, funding bodies and other organisations. It is therefore a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The Declaration calls on the world scientific community to stop using journal-based metrics, particularly journal impact factors, as a surrogate measure of the quality of individual research articles, or in the assessment of individual scientists' contributions. It also emphasises that such metrics should not be the basis for hiring, promotion, or funding decisions.

 

Significant publications

Hall, S. R., Allen, F. H. and Brown, I. D. (1991). The Crystallographic Information File (CIF): A New Standard Archive File for Crystallography, Acta Cryst. A47, 655–685.

Hall, S. R. and McMahon, B. eds. (2005). International Tables for Crystallography, Volume G: Definition and exchange of crystallographic data. First edition Dordrecht: Springer.

Terwilliger, T. C. (2014). Archiving raw crystallographic data. Acta Cryst. D70, 2500–2501.

Hall, S. R. and McMahon, B. (2016). The Implementation and Evolution of STAR/CIF Ontologies: Interoperability and Preservation of Structured Data. Data Science Journal, 15, p. 3.

Bernstein, H. J., Bollinger, J. C., Brown, I. D., Gra゙ulis, S., Hester, J. R., McMahon, B., Spadaccini, N., Westbrook, J. D. & Westrip, S. P. (2016). Specification of the Crystallographic Information File format, version 2.0, J. Appl. Cryst. 49, 277–284.

Helliwell, J. R. (2019). FACT and FAIR with Big Data allows objectivity in science: The view of crystallography, Structural Dynamics 6, 054306.

Helliwell, J. R., McMahon, B., Guss, J. M., and Kroon-Batenburg, L. M. J. (2017). The science is in the data, IUCrJ 4, 714–722.