U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Accesskeys

Shared Submission Groups

Shared submission groups give multiple submitters access to submission data in the Submission Portal and Manage Data. A shared submission group consists of multiple NCBI accounts within the Submission Portal, all of which have permissions-based access to submissions associated with the group. This page provides information about how to create a shared submission group and how to link a submission to that group.

Quick start:

  1. From the Submission Portal My Profile page, create your group. You are now the group administrator.
    • The group name is created from the name in your profile and cannot be changed.
    • The group cannot be deleted once created.
  2. Invite others to join the group.
  3. After accepting the group invitation, group members can link a submission to the group.
  4. Group members have some ability to read, submit, edit, and delete submission data or metadata.

Introduction

The shared submission group feature enables a group of people to:

  • Share, edit, submit, and manage submission data among different submitters or collaborators.
  • Smoothly link other related submissions made by different people within a collaboration while using Submission Portal. See use cases below.

Use Cases

Example 1: You are making an SRA submission and want to link it to an existing BioProject and BioSample that were submitted by another person within your collaboration. By using the same shared-submission group for the SRA, BioProject, and BioSample, all group members will have access to self-service updates for the accessions in Manage Data. If a shared submission group is not used, access and updating will not be self-service, require email with NCBI staff, and may be delayed.

Example 2: You are making a SARS-CoV-2 GenBank submission and want to link it to an existing BioProject and BioSample that were submitted by another person within your collaboration. You can make the link ONLY IF the BioProject and BioSample submissions are all associated with the same submission group.

The option to use shared submission groups is available for the following types of submissions within the Submission Portal:

  • SRA
  • GenBank
  • Genomes
  • TSA
  • BioSample
  • BioProject

Note: shared submission groups are not available for BankIt.

About the Shared Submission Group

About the Group Admin

  • The person who creates the group becomes the group administrator (Admin).
  • There is only one Admin, and the admin role cannot be changed to a different person.
  • The Admin invites members to and can remove members from the group.
  • The Admin can change permissions for group members.

About the Group

  • Once created, a group cannot be deleted.
  • A submission can only belong to a single group.
  • The name of the shared submission group is automatically generated from the name of the group’s creator. The group name cannot be changed once it is created.

About Group Members

  • Each group member must have their own NCBI account.
  • Group members can belong to multiple groups.
  • While submitting, members can link submissions to the group.
  • If “submit” permission is granted to group members by the group Admin, group members can complete the submission for the group.
  • Group members have access to the group’s submission data and metadata depending on the type of submission and submission status (FAQ).

Creating a Shared Submission Group

To create a shared submission group,

  1. Log into Submission Portal: submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

  2. From the top menu of the page, click the My profile link.

    Figure 1. Screenshot of the Submission Portal with the My profile tab underlined

  3. If the form is blank, fill out the required fields. If the form is already populated, review the information to confirm it is correct.

    • All required fields are marked with an * (asterisk). A red asterisk means required information is missing. The red asterisk changes color to black after required information has been provided.
    • Check spelling and information is correct.
    • Use basic ASCII characters only.
    • Once a group is created, the group name cannot be changed. The name of the group is created from your First (given) name and Last (family) name fields, for example, Robyn Perez's shared submissions.
  4. Click the Save button. Once all required profile information has been provided and saved, a Create group for shared submissions button will appear near the bottom of the page.

  5. Click the Create group for shared submissions button

    Figure 2. Screenshot of the Create group for shared submissions button

    Your group has now been created. The Groups link displays in the top menu of the Submission Portal.

    Figure 3. Screenshot of the Submission Portal with Groups tab underlined

Shared Submission Group Administration

Adding a New Group Member

To add a new member:

  1. As the group Admin, log into Submission Portal: submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. Click the Groups tab
  3. Select a group by clicking its Group Id.
    Figure 4. Screenshot of the Group tab Showing Groups by Group Id
  4. From the top menu of the Group page, click the Invites tab
  5. In the Emails field, add emails for each group member. For more than one email, separate each email with a comma.
  6. Click the Invite members button
    Figure 5. Screenshot of the Group tab and Invites page with sample emails

Invited colleagues receive an email from no-reply@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov with the subject line:
Action Required: NCBI Submission Portal Group invitation.

To become a member of the group, your colleague must:

  1. Click on the link in the email
  2. Log-in to NCBI
    • If your colleagues do not have an NCBI account, they need to set up an account. Anyone with access to the link can join the group after logging in to NCBI.
    • The invitation link will expire after 2 weeks.
  3. Click the Accept button

After your colleague has accepted the invitation, their name will appear under the Members tab in your group.

New Group Member Permissions

When the invitation to join the group is sent, new group members have the following permissions by default: Read, Modify, Submit, and Delete. Admins can make changes to a member’s permissions after they have become a group member.

Recommendation: Read, Modify, Submit, and Delete permissions should be given to group members who are actively submitting. Group members with these permissions can submit and help others in the group with submissions.

Changing Member Permissions in the Members Tab

Only a group Admin may change permissions for group members.

To change a member’s permissions:

  1. As the group Admin, log into Submission Portal: submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. Click the Groups tab
  3. Select a group by clicking its Group Id.
    Figure 4. Screenshot of the Group tab Showing Groups by Group Id
  4. Click the Members tab
  5. For each username, adjust the permissions
  6. Click the Save permissions changes button

Removing a Member from a Group

The Admin cannot be removed from a shared submission group.

If a group member creates a submission within a group and the member is later removed from the group, the removed account will no longer have access to the submission data in Submission Portal and Manage Data. The ownership of the submission is transferred from the removed submitter to the group Admin, while the submission remains linked to the group and accessible to all group members.

To remove a member from a group:

  1. As the group Admin, log into Submission Portal: submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. Click the Groups tab
  3. Select a group by clicking its Group Id.
    Figure 4. Screenshot of the Group tab Showing Groups by Group Id
  4. Click the Members tab.
  5. In the Remove member column, click the Remove button on the right side of the row. A popup displays confirming you want to remove the member from the group.
  6. In the popup window, click OK.

Linking a Submission to a Shared Submission Group

  • A submission (meaning one SUB####### number) can only be linked to one group.
  • Any member of the group can link a submission to the group.

How to Link a Submission to a Group

  1. Select the correct submission path in Submission Portal for your data type.
  2. Click the “New Submission button” to start your submission.

  3. Once you arrive at the “Submitter” tab, select the group to which you want to associate the current submission. If the group that you want does not show under your submitter tab, contact the administrator of the group to add you as a member of the group and set the required permissions before you proceed.

    Figure 6. Screenshot of the Submitter section with Options for Group Submission indicated

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Linking a processed submission to a group must be done by NCBI staff. Please write your request including the accession numbers and the group ID in an email to: info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. The group ID may be found by the Admin here: submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/groups/ (Admin login required).

  • Processed submissions can be transferred from one group to a different group. To transfer to a different group, any member of the group with permission to modify the submission needs to:

  • If you would like to start receiving or stop receiving email notifications about submission status changes from submissions associated with the group, the group Admin can adjust the setting for you in the group management area.

    To change email notifications, the group Admin needs to:

    1. Go to the Members tab of the groups area (log-in required).
    2. Click the group ID.
    3. Click Members.
    4. Check the box Receives email notifications column for the appropriate group members.
    5. Click the Save permissions changes button below the member list.

  • Yes, a submission may be started by one group member and finished by another member if both are members of the same submission group and permissions for the group members are set as recommended (Read, Modify, Submit, and Delete).

  • Access to group submission data in the Submission Portal interface depends on the status and the submission workflow.

    • Unfinished and Error status submissions (all workflows): Group members can access all data that is available in the steps of an unfinished submission.
    • SRA: After the submission is submitted, the sequence data is not visible to group members in Submission Portal. Only submission metadata is available.
    • BioSample, BioProject, Genomes, TSA, and GenBank: All submission data is visible to group members, regardless of submission status.

  • For SRA or Genome submissions, the Submission Portal offers the ability for the user to request a folder to preload their data via Aspera or FTP.

    Only the submission owner (the person who logged in and started the submission) can select their preload folder on the Files tab within a SRA or Genomes submission. Group members cannot select and link to another group member’s preload folder.

  • No, please contact info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov for assistance with programmatic submissions.

  • If you have questions or need assistance, please write to info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Include your submission ID or accession numbers if you have that information.