BIG Search (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/search) is a distributed and scalable biological data resource search platform designed to provide the global research community with unified, one-stop cross-database search services for large-scale biological data resources. In its current version, BIG Search integrates data from 95 CNCB-NGDC databases and 65 partner databases (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/partners) through a unified indexing framework, covering 1.73 billion entries with a total data volume exceeding 1.9 TB. In addition, the platform incorporates 34 NCBI databases through the NCBI E-utilities interface and 186 EBI databases through the EBI Search API, further extending its coverage beyond the CNCB-NGDC ecosystem to major international biological databases. Building on this integrated data infrastructure, BIG Search provides a range of search and analysis capabilities, including global search, advanced search, associated search, search recommendations, and data statistics, enabling users to discover and explore biological data resources from multiple perspectives. Associated search connects related records across databases to reveal potential relationships, search recommendations guide users toward relevant resources, and data statistics provide an overview of data distributions. By enabling unified indexing, cross-database retrieval, and association-based discovery across diverse biological data resources, BIG Search facilitates efficient discovery and access to distributed biological data, reduces data fragmentation, and lowers the barriers to locating, integrating, and reusing biological information for research. (2026.5)
BIG Search: a distributed, scalable full-text search engine for unified cross-database retrieval of large-scale biological data resources. (in preparation)