FAQs

The Genetic Resources Gateway was developed as a joint initiative of the three European networks for genetic resources: ECPGR, EUFORGEN and ERFP and went online in 2021.

This is a joint initiative of the three European networks for genetic resources, ECPGR, EUFORGEN and ERFP. The technical team administering the Gateway is composed by Newtvision, ICiTy and EUFORGEN. The publishing team is composed of selected representatives from the three European genetic resources networks (ECPGR, EUFORGEN, ERFP).

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 817580.

The Genetic Resources Gateway is the only portal curated by three key European genetic resources networks that provides an overview of the most important organisations and knowledge products on plant, forest and animal genetic resources provided in a user-friendly and easily searchable way.

The Genetic Resources Gateway is a completely free platform– free to join and free to use.

The Genetic Resources Gateway is used by two distinct but related groups of people.

On one hand, representatives of  genebanks, institutes, associations or research centers, with the role of editors, can share the information about their organisations and links to relevant resources. 

On the other hand, users of genetic resources  – breeders, land owners, researchers, educators, journalists and policymakers –  can benefit from the Genetic Resources Gateway to inform their own work and make the most of the Gateway´s powerful search tools.

Editors, representatives of research centres, organisations, and networks in Europe and neighbourhood countries can sign in and submit content from their own organisation. Content can come from anywhere in the world but it must be relevant for Europe.

The Back Office is the interface where the information available in the Front Office of the Gateway is managed. To access this page users need to create a profile and become editors to add and edit information on relevant material. Administrators and publishers work in the Back Office to manage and review the information uploaded by the editors.

Your data has to be already online as no files can be uploaded to the Gateway. We invite stakeholders from organisations working on genetic resources to register and add information about relevant materials that are already published online to be featured on the Gateway. The Back Office panel is used to provide links to these materials which will then be available in the Front Office. You can see this graphic visualisation about how to connect to your organisation and submit your content.

By clicking on the contents on the homepage you can access a specific category of material (case studies, databases, maps, projects, technical guidelines and multimedia). You can also filter by domain (plant, forest, animal), species, organisation name and tags. The text search allows you to do a broad search of the database, as your search phrase can appear anywhere in the record. It is a convenient mechanism to begin your search, and then start applying filters with specific values. 

There is a second search mask to browse through organisations. 

The detailed  pages include descriptions of the materials and organisations together with a web link.

The data are constantly expanding. When a new organisation or editor joins the Genetic Resources Gateway and adds new material, it enriches the Gateway. Editors are responsible for updating their contents regularly. An automatic notification is sent to the editor when an outdated link is detected during a weekly screening.

If your organisation is already on the Gateway, you can register as an editor and connect to your organisation. In the Back office, in the “my organisations” section, you can find a list of existing organisations and select yours.

Research institutes and other data providers make their online content available on the Gateway. These can be: case studies, databases, maps, projects, technical guidelines or multimedia in different languages. If the content is in languages other than English, the description on the Gateway still needs to be written in English with the language of the content indicated.

Case studies/success stories: interesting findings, case studies or success stories related to plant, forest and animal genetic resources of social, environmental and economic interest. They can be in the form of a news article, web page, blog post or brochure.

Databases: online databases that hold information on European forest, plant and animal genetic resources. The databases can gather data on genes, varieties, gene banks and other related infrastructures.

Maps: interactive geographical maps including the location of genetic resources or infrastructure for genetic resources.

Projects:  ongoing or finished projects, with links to summary reports or project websites.

Technical guidelines: practical advice, practice recommendations for forest managers, genebank managers, site managers and breeders.

Multimedia: photo libraries, animations, recorded presentations, webinars, movies or videos presenting a project, an organisation or a scientific finding. Videos can also include interesting facts related to genetic resources or processes taking place in policy development, practice and research.

The European networks develop a number of relevant publications and content that can be directly found at their websites. The Gateway search function allows you to easily search for this content also from the Gateway website

Promotional and commercial materials are not suitable for the Gateway.

Scientific literature on genetic resources are available on the relevant journal websites of the publishers. Search for this type of content on Google Scholar.  

Policy briefs and policy advice documents should not be added to the Gateway as content but they can still be linked to  in the description of the organisation if its focus is on policy.

Tags help users find your content easily. The tags you add to your content will contribute to grouping and organizing of the contents and become a selection criterion for the users. When you add tags, first check if the tag already exists (e.g. in situ conservation) to avoid duplications. If a tag is not in the list, you can add a new one. 

After submitting your first content you will have to wait for  our editorial team to approve it. You will receive an automatic notification when this is done. Afterwards, you will be able to add more content.

A publishing team consisting of selected representatives from the three European genetic resources networks (ECPGR, EUFORGEN, ERFP) overlooks the quality and accuracy of the submitted information. 

You can always edit the content that you have published  by clicking on the pencil symbol.

If you see any mistakes or wrong information in the content of your organisation, you are welcome to report it using the button ‘suggest changes’. The owner of the content or another editor from the same organisation will receive a notification to update the content.

We always appreciate feedback on the Genetic Resources Gateway. If you have any comments, technical problems, or ideas you can send an email to genresbridge@efi.int