Resource Citation Guidelines  

FIND YOUR RRIDs
http://rrid.site

RESEARCH RESOURCE IDENTIFIERS (RRIDs)
RRIDs come from existing authoritative community databases. The RRID project in consultation with journals, community authorities and funders has selected the authorities that are the key authoritative databases for each resource type. To ensure their global uniqueness, RRIDs are prefixed to indicate the source of the identifier. For example, the "AB" prefix of the RRID:AB_794454 indicates its provision by the Antibody Registry. To avoid ambiguity where a resource has been assigned more than one identifier by different authorities, such IDs are cross-referenced in our system. For example, the fgf8a(ti282a/+)AB zebrafish strain has the identifier ZDB-GENO-070209-1 from the Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN) model organism database, and ZL1030 from the Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) stock center. Both are valid and used in the literature, and can be resolved to a single resource.

RESEARCH RESOURCE CITATION GUIDELINES
RRIDs are provided in this portal as part of research resource citations, which are pre-formatted snippets of text that can be copied directly into a publication. Resource citations are comprised of key metadata for the resource such as the company name and catalog number or the genotype of the organism plus the RRID. The structure and content of these citations represent a standard for how resources should be cited in the literature to adequately document their identity and provenance. Below please find research resource citations for antibodies, tools, and organisms, and the key attributes of these resources types that are critical to cite for their identification and re-use.

Antibody Citations

Commercial antibody citations provided here include a short vendor name, catalog number, Lot number and an RRID that is derived from the Antibody Registry authority:

      DSHB Cat# RC2, lot# 123, RRID:AB_531887

While a vendor, catalog and lot number may be a sufficient for uniquely identifying most antibodies, an Antibody Registry identifier is useful in virtue of how antibodies are cataloged and distributed across vendors - which often results in a single antibody becoming associated with numerous catalog numbers or being removed without a trace. The Antibody Registry associates each unique antibody with a registry identifier that tracks with this reagent throughout its lifetime, no matter how its catalog number or vendor may change. We strive to provide this information, however antibody origins may be hidden by some vendors and this will cause the same antibody to have multiple RRIDs. Some vendors are highly transparent with where their antibody products come from while others are less transparent. Frequently this is a result of legal agreements and can't be easily changed.

Lab-Sourced antibodies can be included in the Antibody Registry, but we depend largely on users like you to register them. An submission portal currently resides here for any antibody (commercial or lab-sourced) not found in the registry database, which will return an identifier for immediate use and authors should expect an official answer from the Antibody Registry curators within 1 business day.

Cell Lines
Cell line identifiers include a standard short name, the provider, the catalog or clone number and RRID based on a Cellosaurus database identifier:

Tool Citations
Software tool and database citations provided here include a standard tool name, the provider, a version number if available, and RRID based on a NIF SciCrunch Registry identifier:

       CellProfiler Image Analysis Software, V2.0, RRID:SCR_007358

At present the recognized authority for software tools is the SciCrunch Registry, which focuses largely on non-commercial tools, but as our content expands new sources of tools will be included. When a single tool is referenced with different identifiers in different sources, they will be cross-referenced in our system. A recommended name and the providing organization is also included in the resource citations. This offers important provenance information which can be relevant for obtaining the resource, and for documenting any code modifications at in a particular implementation. Any tools that are not found in the Resource Identification Portal should be registered with the SciCrunch Registry as a "General Resource" here, and an identifier will be supplied for use in your publication.

Core Facility Citations
Core facilities frequently are grant funded and as such, they need to be acknowledged publicly as contributors to a particular research project. Core names can be quite long and they start with the university where they are located and end with the words "core facility":

       New York University School of Medicine Langone Health Microscopy Laboratory Core Facility, RRID:SCR_017934

The length of the name should not be shortened because at any given university there may be more than one "microscopy core" and certainly across the world there are many core facilities that are likely named the same. Please try to just stay as consistent as possible when acknowledging the contribution, whether you are simply using an instrument or analytical services. Your colleagues will appreciate your addition of the RRID and the usage of the full citation syntax to ensure that both a human readable name and the identifier are appropriate. 

Core Facilities are listed as a joint activity between the ABRF Core Marketplace, the international trade organization for core facilities, and the RRID project.

Organism Citations
At present, the citation provided for organisms includes only an RRID that is derived from a model organism database or stock center authority:

        e.g., RRID:IMSR_JAX:000664 

If the organism was obtained from a supplier, the name, vendor and stock number should also be provided.

As noted above, when a single organism is referenced with different identifiers in different sources (e.g. ZFIN and ZIRC), they will be cross-referenced by the Model Organism Database (MOD) and often the stock center as well as our system. We leave it up to authors to document the organism name in their citation, as the names in this portal are not yet stable, and authors often prefer their own syntax or notations to be used in a publication. Our recommendation is for names of genetically modified organisms to specify their genotype according to nomenclature guidelines of each model organism authority (listed below). Organisms that are not found in this portal or in their respective MOD should be deposited or registered with the proper authority, most of which will return an email within 1-3 business days. When necessary, citations reporting organisms in the absence of an identifier should include all known genotype-related information. This includes the genetic background and breeding history, as well as the sequence, genomic location, and zygosity of alterations and transgenic insertions. Organisms that are "wild type" should use the NCBI Taxonomy identifier. The RRID resolver is expected to resolve NCBI Taxonomy species identifiers, such as Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda, NCBITaxon_3108004.

Organism Authorities, Submission

The following model organism authorities provide identifiers used in constructing organism RRIDs. 
To submit or name a new organism resource, follow the relevant submission and nomenclature links below.

Organisms Currently in Portal

Rodents

   Mouse: Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI)     Homepage     Submit Data     Nomenclature    Submit Strains

   Rat: Rat Genome Database (RGD)     Homepage     Submit Data     Nomenclature    RRRC rat submission

Invertebrates

   Worm: Wormbase     Homepage     Submit data     Nomenclature   CGC Repository Submit worms

   Fly: Flybase     Homepage   Submissions   Nomenclature   BDSC Submit Stocks  Kyoto Submit Stocks 

Fish

   Zebrafish: Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN)     Homepage    Nomenclature   Data Submissions ZFIN    ZIRC Submissions

   Xiphophorus:     Homepage     Contact Page

Amphibians

   Frog (Xenopus): Xenbase     Homepage    Nomenclature  Contact   NXR Frog Repository

   Salamander (Ambystoma): AGSC     Homepage        Stock Center

Higher mammals

   Pig: NSRRC     Homepage   Contact Page

Single Celled Organisms

   Tetrahymena:     Homepage   Contact Page

Additional Model Organism Authorities (not current RRID providers)

   Amoebae (D. discoideum): Dictybase     Homepage

   Chicken(Gallus gallus): Trans-NIH Gallus Initiative     Homepage

   Fission Yeast (S.pombe): Trans-NIH S. Pombe Initiative    Homepage

   Filamentous fungus (Neurospora): Trans-NIH Neurospora Initiative    Homepage

   Daphnia: Trans-NIH Daphnia Initiative     Homepage

Plasmids

Addgene is a global, nonprofit repository that was created to help scientists share plasmids and accelerate research. Addgene plasmids are registered RRID items in the format of RRID:Addgene_####. To obtain an RRID for any plasmid you plan to share with the research community, please visit the plasmid deposit my plasmid page to learn how you can share plasmids through Addgene.  Please note, you must deposit your plasmid to obtain an RRID. 

   Addgene links:     Homepage        *Plasmid deposit page*      Contact page

Cell Lines

To obtain an RRID for a cell line that is not currently found in the RRID portal please contact Cellosaurus, the authority on cell lines. Cellosaurus will take your information and generate an RRID for your cell line in 1-2 business days: 

   Cellosaurus links:     Homepage   Please send email:  Mail:cellosaurus

Do you wish to deposit a cell line?

The following bioresource centers distribute authenticated cell lines, following the ANSI standard for human cell line authentication. Some of these will also allow researchers to submit their cell lines. Please contact your local cell line stock center to deposit cell lines. 

   ATCC: USA     Homepage    Contact page

   Coriell: USA     Homepage     Contact page

   CMRI: Australia    Homepage   Contact page

   DSMZ: Germany    Homepage  Contact page

   ECACC: England     Homepage     Contact page

   JCRC: Japan      Homepage       Contact page

BioSamples

NCBI and EBI BioSamples database is very large and you may notice that the database is not fully replicated in the RRID portal. Only projects that guarantee uniqueness of the samples are listed in the RRID portal. These currently include the following: IIDP.org, nPOD.org, HPAP, and the ADI Islet Core. At this time you may not add individual records to BioSamples to obtain an RRID. If you have a project that you would like to register RRIDs for please contact the RRID project staff to get these data included.  

    Contact us: rii-help@scicrunch.org

Do you wish to deposit an antibody?

The following bioresource centers distribute authenticated hybridomas or antibody reagents. 

   DSHB: USA     Homepage    Hybridoma deposit page

Small Molecules

The RRID project has not yet reached agreement with the small molecule authorities to provide RRIDs for these. However the NCBI PubChem and the CAS systems are the recognized authorities for small molecules and cross list chemicals with PubChem and CAS numbers. 

To cite small molecules please use PubChem lookup function to find your "CID" compound identifier or look in the material data sheet for the product, which will contain the "CAS No" (see example). 

Example citation:

Ethyl Alcohol, Merk, Cat# 12345, CAS No 64-17-5

Ethyl Alcohol, Merk, Cat# 12345, PubChemCID:702

**Both are correct**

Proteins

The RRID project does not cover proteins or protein products, however proteins can be cited using the Uniprot Knowledge Base. 

To cite proteins please use Uniprot's lookup function to find your identifier for the protein. Note, there are species specific numbers, so please use the protein ID for the correct species. 

Example citation:

Metabotropic glutamate receptor 1, GRM1_HUMAN, UniProtKB:Q13255