General Curation Practices

The goal of CIViC is to provide current, comprehensive and accurate knowledge to aid in the clinical interpretation of cancer variants. A strong emphasis for curation should be placed on genes, molecular therapies (targeted to variants or ensembles of variants which we call Molecular Profiles), evidence and assertions of greatest potential clinical relevance to cancer. In addition to predictive (theranostic), prognostic, diagnostic and prediposing evidence, CIViC supports curation of evidence supporting the oncogenicity or functional impact of variants, though again the emphasis of this effort is on such evidence that may ultimately support clinical relevance for cancer.

CIViC curators should avoid directly copying phrases from original sources (including abstracts) for summaries, statements, and comments. This practice prevents plagiarism and copyright infringement for articles with limited public access.

Suggested revisions should always include a comment, providing rationale for the change. This allows editors to better understand the changes being proposed and facilitates acceptance or further modification.

If a curator finds inaccuracies or inconsistencies in the database, they should flag such entities to assist editors in rectifying curation issues.