[1] UCDP data are systematically collected and have global coverage, comparability across cases and countries, and long time series.
Initially, the program collected data only on so-called "armed conflicts", defined as fighting exceeding 25 battle-related deaths between two actors of which at least one was a state.
[3] One of the leading researchers associated with the UCDP is Professor Peter Wallensteen that founded and led the program since its initiation until 31 July 2015.
Additionally, UCDP works closely with the Violence Early-Warning System (ViEWS)[5] project at Uppsala University, Sweden, as well as with Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)[6] and the Quality of Government Institute (QoG), both based at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
[9] Aside from being widely used in research on peace and conflict at universities both in Sweden and abroad, UCDP data is also used in a number of other disciplines, including public health,[10][11][12] business and economics,[13][14] migration and diasporas,[15][16][17] as well as in studies that focus on agriculture, biodiversity and fisheries[18][19] to name a few examples.
[27] UCDP data are included in the Global Peace Index[28][29] of the Institute for Economics and Peace, and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation makes use of UCDP data for its index that assesses the quality of governance in African countries.
[31] Since 1993, a list of all armed conflicts and a brief description of the major developments and trends in organized violence appears annually in the Journal of Peace Research.
UCDP operates and continuously updates its online database (UCDP Conflict Encyclopedia), an interactive database, that offers a web-based system for visualizing, handling and downloading data on armed conflicts and organized violence, free of charge.
It is possible to find information about specific countries, conflicts and years of interest by using the intuitive world maps.
[41] One-sided violence is defined as: "The use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formally organized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths in a year”.
[42] As a minimum, for each country, UCDP uses at least one of the global newswires (AFP, Reuters, AP, Xinhua, or Agencia EFE) in addition to BBC Monitoring.
Additional sources include newly published books, case studies, journals like Africa Research Bulletin, research reports, documents of international and multinational organizations, publications by NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and documents of fighting parties.
[36] Typically, battle-related deaths occur in what can be described as "normal" warfare involving the armed forces of the warring parties.
This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities (e.g. hit-and-run attacks / ambushes) and all kinds of bombardments of military units, cities and villages etc.
[36] One-sided violence is defined by UCDP as “The use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formally organized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths in a year.”[37]