SourceData - a semantic platform for curating and searching figures

Here we present SourceData (http://sourcedata.embo.org), a platform that allows researchers and publishers to share scientific figures and, when available, the underlying source data in a way that is machine-readable and findable. SourceData is unique in its focus on the core of scientific evidence--data presented in figures--and its capability to make papers searchable based on their data content and hence directly couple data to improved discoverability. SourceData aims at establishing a selfreinforcing data ecosystem that bridges the conventional visual and narrative description of research findings with a machine-readable representation of data and hypotheses.\n\nIn molecular and cell biology, most of the data that result from hypothesis-driven research are exclusively available in the form of figures or tables in published papers. In spite of their importance for the understanding of biological processes and human di ...