Crystallographic data

Crystallographic data compilations

Crystallography is fortunate as a science in the wealth of high-quality curated databases, peer-reviewed journals and authoritative reference works such as International Tables for Crystallography that exist for the archiving and dissemination of reference data. Such dissemination is helped by the existence of discipline-wide standards such as the Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF).

However, many smaller-scale research projects have accumulated valuable data that have no natural home within these resources. Often the website or repository of a research group, department or university will host such data sets, at least during the life span of an active research project; but there is a  risk that such collections may be lost completely when an investigator retires, or if the research group is disbanded or changes its areas of interest. This area of the IUCr web site can provide a home for such collections.

Note that material provided here has not necessarily been subjected to rigorous peer review, and should be used with critical awareness of its provenance and status. In general, re-use is encouraged, but at the very least the source should be acknowledged; the responsible authors or editors of data collections may specify additional conditions or constraints on the re-use of their data.


Available collections