Format

A description of the JSON and CSV formatted database which is available for download

JSON File Format - grid.json

Key Type Required Description
version String True The database release version number
institutes [Institute] True A list of all institute records

Institute format

There are three main states a record can be in: active, obsolete and redirected.

Active

The most common type, these are currently considered to be valid records.

Main format

Key Type Required Description
id String True A unique ID for the institute
name String True The name typically used to refer to the institute.
status String True For an active institute, this is always set to "active"
aliases [String] False A list of other names the institute is known as
acronyms [String] False A list of short acronyms the institute is known as (e.g. MRC for the Medical Research Council)
types [String] False A list of types describing the institute. For an explanation of valid values see our policies
wikipedia_url String False URL of the wikipedia page for the institute
email_address String False A contact email address for the institute
ip_addresses [String] False IP addresses known to belong to the institute
established Integer False The year the institute opened, CE
close Integer False The year the institute closed, CE
links [String] False An array of URLs linking to things like the homepage for the institute
relationships [Relationships] False Any relationships the institute has to others. See our policies for more details
external_ids External ID False Other IDs known to refer to the institute. See our policies for more details
addresses [Address] True An array of addresses associated with the institute, address format described
labels [Labels] True The name of the institute in different languages

Relationship format

Key Type Required Description
type String True The relationship type, see our for more details on the types and the meaning of these
label String True The name of the related institute
id String True The unique ID of the related institute

External ID format

Key Type Required Description
External ID Type External ID Type True An object mapping the external ID name to a list of all IDs and a preferred ID if one exists.

External ID Type

Key Type Required Description
preferred String True The preferred ID for this type, or null if none are preferred
all [String] True A list of all IDs in the "External ID Type" format

Address format

Key Type Required Description
city String True The name of the city
country String True The name of the country
country_code String True The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country
country_geonames_id String True The GeoNames ID of the country
lat Float False Latitute of the institute
lng Float False Longitude of the institute
line_1 String False First line of the address
line_2 String False Second line of the address
line_3 String False Third line of the address
postcode String False The postcode/zipcode
primary Boolean True If there is more than one address, identifies the main location
state String False The name of the state/region
state_code String False The ISO 3166-2 region code
geonames_city Geoname False The linked GeoNames data

GeoNames format

Key Type Required Description
id String True The GeoNames ID
city String True The name of the city
geonames_admin1 Region True The admin1 region in GeoNames, documented
geonames_admin2 Region True The admin2 region in GeoNames, documented
nuts_level1 Region True The NUTS level 1 region the GeoNames city is in, documented
nuts_level2 Region True The NUTS level 2 region the GeoNames city is in, documented
nuts_level3 Region True The NUTS level 3 region the GeoNames city is in, documented

Region format

Key Type Required Description
id String True The ID in the region format
name String True The name of the region
ascii_name String False A preferred ASCII encoded name for the region

Labels format

Key Type Required Description
label [String] True The institute name in a language variant
iso639 [String] True The ISO-639-1 language code

Redirected

If a duplicate is found in the database, the records are merged. To ensure that both IDs continue to resolve to the correct record, one is chosen as a master record and the other is set to redirect to the master.
Key Type Required Description
id String True A unique ID for the institute
status String True Set to "redirected" in this case
redirect String True The ID of the institute which should now be used

CSV Format

Institutes file - grid.csv

Column Type Required Description
ID String True A unique ID for the institute
Name String True The name typically used to refer to the institute
City String True The name of the city
State String False The name of the state/region
Country String True The name of the country

Full tables

The full_tables directory contains the following files of institute data:

  • acronyms.csv
  • addresses.csv
  • aliases.csv
  • external_ids.csv
  • geonames.csv
  • institutes.csv
  • labels.csv
  • links.csv
  • relationships.csv
  • types.csv

Each file is indexed by grid_id which corresponds to ID in the main grid.csv file, except for geonames.csv which is indexed by the geonames_city_id used in addresses.csv.