News
wwPDB Charter: Full and Associate Members
10/12 
Founded in 2003, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) is dedicated to archiving, management, and public dissemination of structural biology data, and is committed to the FAIR Principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) that are emblematic of responsible stewardship of public domain information.
wwPDB operations are governed by the wwPDB Charter (PDF), which was most recently renewed in 2021. The renewed agreement provides for two types of wwPDB membership--Full and Associate.
Current wwPDB Full Members include three founding members [Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB, USA), Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe, United Kingdom), and Protein Data Bank Japan (PDBj, Japan)] and two specialist data resource members [Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank (BMRB, USA and Japan; joined in 2006) and Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB, United Kingdom; joined in 2021)].
Full Members jointly manage three wwPDB Core Archives, including the Protein Data Bank, the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank, and the Electron Microscopy Data Bank. Data safety and security and periodic archival updates are the primary responsibility of three wwPDB-designated Archive Keepers, including RCSB PDB for the Protein Data Bank, BMRB for the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank, and EMDB for the Electron Microscopy Data Bank.
The wwPDB acknowledges the importance of global equity in the ability to deposit and access data, and the need for international involvement and collaboration in maintaining the wwPDB Core Archives.
The renewed wwPDB Charter describes the Associate Membership program, wherein Associate Members are expected to contribute to some of the wwPDB activities (deposition, validation, biocuration, remediation, storage, dissemination of public-domain structural biology data stored in one or more wwPDB Core Archives). The responsibilities of an individual wwPDB Associate Member for deposition, validation, biocuration, remediation, storage, and/or dissemination of public-domain structural biology data stored in one or more wwPDB Core Archives must be agreed upon by all wwPDB Full Members.
At the discretion of wwPDB Full Members, an external organization may be invited to apply to become a wwPDB Associate Member, following preliminary discussions and successful completion of due diligence and demonstration of sufficient technical expertise, adequate infrastructure, and sustainable funding. The decision to admit a new wwPDB Associate Member must be by unanimous vote of the current Heads of the existing wwPDB Full Members, supported by a simple majority of the voting members of the wwPDB Advisory Committee.
Full details of the arrangement are provided in the wwPDB Charter (PDF).
