The IPGS Knowledge Commons
Open-access digital research infrastructure — hosted and maintained at HZAU, governed by the FAIR principles, and released under CC-BY 4.0.
What the Knowledge Commons contains
Rootstock–Scion Compatibility Database
Curated records of crop combinations, trial outcomes, and agronomic performance across global environments.
Protocol & SOP Repository
Standardized methods for grafting technique, union evaluation, and crop-specific phenotyping procedures — DOI-citable and version-controlled.
Germplasm Registry
Catalogue of rootstock and scion accessions available for sharing among IPGS member institutions under standard Material Transfer Agreements.
Experimental Dataset Archive
FAIR-compliant raw and processed datasets from joint projects; all datasets assigned persistent DOIs with structured metadata.
Digital Tools Library
Bioinformatics pipelines, image-analysis tools, and AI decision-support models for graft researchers — open-source and maintained by Working Groups.
Annual State of Grafting Science
Flagship open-access synthesis publication — bilingual English and Chinese — distributed to all members and policymakers.
FAIR by design
Minimum Information for Grafting Experiments (MIGE)
MIGE is the IPGS-authored metadata standard describing the minimum information needed to reproduce, compare, and pool data from any grafting experiment. It is maintained by Working Group 6, with revisions following a transparent, versioned process and public consultation.
Scope — six required domains
1. Biological material
Species, cultivar, accession codes; source institution; phytosanitary status.
2. Grafting procedure
Technique, age of material, environmental conditions, operator expertise.
3. Growth environment
Location, medium, light/temperature regime, irrigation, nutrition.
4. Phenotypic measurement
Measurement timing, instrumentation, sampling design, replicates.
5. Analytical methods
Statistical approach, software, code availability.
6. Data provenance
Authors, funding, licence, version, DOI.
Open-science & FAIR-data policy
IPGS's policy is that data and protocols generated in joint projects are released openly under CC-BY 4.0 and structured to meet the FAIR principles.
Key commitments
- Every joint dataset receives a DOI and MIGE-compliant metadata.
- Every joint publication is open-access (Gold or Diamond).
- Every protocol is versioned, citable, and deposited in the Protocol Repository.
- Embargoes exceeding 12 months require Board approval.
- Personal and sensitive data are excluded from open release and handled under a separate data-protection policy.