Open for comment: GA4GH Policy for Acknowledging and Recommending Externally Developed Standards, Policies, and Best Practices Guidelines

This proposed GA4GH policy aims to establish a process for recognising externally developed standards, policies, and best practices that are essential and beneficial to the work of GA4GH.

To foster a globally federated ecosystem for genomic data and knowledge sharing, GA4GH believes in the importance of interoperability with external standards, frameworks, and guidance.

The GA4GH Policy for Acknowledging and Recommending Externally Developed Standards, Policies, and Best Practices Guidelines establishes a framework for recognising and recommending externally developed resources, such as technical standards, policy frameworks, tools, and best practices, that are essential, complementary, or beneficial to GA4GH’s mission. The proposed policy covers scope, categories of resource types, and process of recognition.

Through this policy, GA4GH aims to promote cross-organisational collaboration, avoid redundancy, enhance compatibility, and provide clear guidance on the relationships between our standards and external resources.​ It aims to avoid duplication of efforts, provide clarity for implementers, and support collaboration across the standards ecosystem.

GA4GH invites feedback from the community, especially those involved in implementations that touch external standards, frameworks, or other resources.

The document is 2,250 words (~six pages), with an estimated review time of 20 to 30 minutes.