Persistence and Availability of Web Services in Computational Biology
Author Information
Author(s): Schultheiss Sebastian J., Münch Marc-Christian, Andreeva Gergana D., Rätsch Gunnar
Primary Institution: Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society
Hypothesis
What factors contribute to the long-term availability of bioinformatics Web services?
Conclusion
The study found that 72% of bioinformatics Web services are still available at their published addresses, but many lack proper maintenance plans.
Supporting Evidence
- 72% of Web services are still available at their published addresses.
- 9% of services are completely unavailable.
- 33% of services could not be tested for functionality due to lack of example data.
- 13% of services were found to be non-functional.
- 45% of services were confirmed to be functional.
Takeaway
Most bioinformatics Web services are still online, but many might stop working because they are not maintained properly.
Methodology
The study analyzed the availability of 927 Web services published in NAR Web Server Issues from 2003 to 2009 and conducted a survey among 872 authors.
Limitations
The study only included services from NAR Web Server Issues, which may not represent all bioinformatics services.
Participant Demographics
The survey included authors of 913 NAR Web Server Issue articles, with 274 responses.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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