[1] It involves the following computerized databases: NIG's DNA Data Bank of Japan (Japan), NCBI's GenBank (USA) and the EMBL-EBI's European Nucleotide Archive (EMBL).
New and updated data on nucleotide sequences contributed by research teams to each of the three databases are synchronized on a daily basis through continuous interaction between the staff at each the collaborating organizations.
[2] Since the 1990s, most of the world's major scientific journals have required that sequence data be deposited in an INSDC database as a pre-condition for publication.
The DDBJ/EMBL-EBI/GenBank synchronization is maintained according to a number of guidelines which are produced and published by an International Advisory Board.
[3] The guidelines consist of a common definition of the feature tables [4] for the databases, which regulate the content and syntax of the database entries,[5] in the form of a common DTD (Document Type Definition).