EDAM

EDAM is an ontology of well-established concepts in bioinformatics and computational biology. It provides a structured vocabulary covering data types, data identifiers, data formats, operations, and topics. Each concept includes preferred terms, synonyms, and definitions, organised into a hierarchical structure. EDAM is developed in collaboration with ELIXIR France and is intended for use by tool developers, registry maintainers, and anyone involved in annotating or describing bioinformatics resources.

Key Features

• Structured vocabulary — provides standardised terms for data types, identifiers, formats, operations, and topics in bioinformatics
• Synonym support — maps alternative terms to preferred concepts, reducing ambiguity across tools and publications
• Hierarchical organisation — uses parent-child relationships to allow navigation from broad topics down to specific concepts
• Interoperability — adopted by bio.tools, Galaxy, and other ELIXIR services for consistent annotation across platforms
• Community-driven development — maintained through open contributions with regular releases that reflect evolving bioinformatics practice

Access and Integration

• The ontology and its documentation are available at edamontology.org
• EDAM is distributed in OWL format, supporting integration into tools, registries, and annotation pipelines