Open data

Open Data

True open data would mean that you can do anything with the data you want, including changing it, redistributing it, even corrupting it. Data from docking.org projects is not open data, because whereas you are free to use the data at your site for any purpose, you must obtain written authorization from us to redistribute substantial subsets of the data.

The reasons for this policy are severalfold:

• it allows us to maintain some quality control
• it allows us to audit usage, which helps secure financial support for further work
• it prevents "confusion in the marketplace" in which data redistributed from multiple sources could differ in ways that could mislead users of the data.
• some of our colleagues who contribute to ZINC insist.

-- John Irwin