Sustainability Issues of Data Archives

Public data resources focused on molecular biosciences have been established and refined over the past fifty years. These resources have adopted community-endorsed standards for sharing data, which include specific formats, metadata, and crucial data components for long-term storage and usefulness. In contrast, the practice of collecting and sharing large-scale imaging data is still relatively new. The scientific imaging community is developing standards for the deposition, storage, preservation, and access of services, while simultaneously creating new image acquisition techniques. Here, we discuss the unique sustainability challenges associated with the long-term storage of image data, including the technical challenges and policy considerations that impact the sustainability of the resource.