Table 1. Strategies Employed in the Various Case Studies in This Perspective That Have Contributed to Each Initiative’s Success^a.

strategic decision	CSD	PDB	PubChem	ChEMBL	NMR
Cooperation with Scientific Journals
Journals mandate deposition as requirement for publication	⊗	⊗		–	⊗
Automatic deposition of data from journals	○		⊗	–
Links to research articles reporting the data	○	○	○	○
Adaptability
Regular updates of data sharing principles and recommendationsb	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗
Integration and intercompatibility with other databasesc		○	⊗	⊗	–
Ability for individual users to submit data entries	○	○	⊗	–	○
Ability for individual users to update data entries				⊗	–
Use of and compliance with existing ontological frameworks where possible	○	○	⊗	○	⊗
Functionality
Powerful search functionalities, e.g., sketch search, similarity search	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗	–
Focus on back-end and data delivery functionality rather than front-end				×	–
Expert in-house curation and/or curation by “vigilantes”d	⊗			⊗	–
Target Audience
Ease-of-use by nonexperts	⊗	○	○	○	○
Adoption by industrial users as part of their core R&D workflowse	⊗	○	○	⊗	○
Heavy initial advertisement in journals and conferences				×
Critical number of initial users who can provide feedback		×
Other Contributing Factors
Starting early, with relatively few data-points, or first-mover advantage	×			×	×
Single, large funding source				⊗	×
Funded via multiple smaller grants (at least partially)	○	○		○	○

^aKey: (×) strategy employed at launch; (○) strategy employed now; (−) strategy not applicable.

^bAt least every few years.

^cEasy mapping of data across multiple databases.

^dReportedly gives users confidence in the data.

^eParticularly pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries.