Join

Join the Network

Welcome to VertNet. We invite any institution with biological or natural history collections to join our growing community of data publishers.

To join VertNet you’ll need:

  • Digitized biological or natural history data (we work with all biodiversity collections, not just vertebrates);
  • The desire to share your data with scientists, researchers, educators, and others around the world; and,
  • A willingness to maintain and improve your data over time.

If you have all three, or if you have questions, please contact VertNet’s support team and we’ll get you and your data started on the path to publication and discovery.

Image - Loxodonta africana. Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences.
Loxodonta africana. Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences.

Any institution with biodiversity data. Our emphasis has been vertebrate data historically, but we will work with any data set containing biodiversity data. We believe strongly in the benefits to having all biodiversity data available and discoverable online, so we will continue to work with vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, fungi, paleo, or any other biological and natural history collection interested in sharing their data with the world. Our distinguished list of data publishers share their data via the VertNet, GBIF, and other portals globally.

  • Contact us

    When you’re ready to join the network, all you have to do is let us know. Once you’ve done that we’ll work with you to improve and publish your data in the most effective and efficient manner possible.











  • Data Quality

    We believe in publishing the highest quality and most complete data possible. After we talk with you about your data, we’ll review your data for possible data improvements, such as duplicate catalog numbers, indeterminate and non-standard geography, inconsistent taxonomy, and terms not compliant with Darwin Core. Then we’ll provide you with a detailed report so that you can update your database locally. Only publishers who host their data on the VertNet IPT benefit from these services automatically. If you host your own data set, you can request this service to make your data more complete.

  • Data Publishing

    As soon as you are happy with the quality of your data set, we use the Integrated Publishing Toolkit to map your data to Darwin Core and to create an archive of your occurrence data and institutional metadata. We then publish your data and make it available for use by VertNet, GBIF, and other data aggregators (with your permission). To learn more about this process, you can read our IPT FAQ, Guide to Copyright and Licensing, or you can contact us directly.