Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
Developed at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, this resource is a manually curated collection of complete GWAS summary datasets made available as open source files for download, or by querying a database of the complete data.
For full details, including dataset contributors and researchers who have developed the resource see our website.
Dataset history
This project began as the underlying database for the MR-Base (decommissioned) and LD Hub projects. These data now serve as an input source to a wider number of analytical tools that implement methods such as Mendelian randomization, fine mapping, colocalisation, GWAS visualisation etc. Please see the API page for a list of R and Python packages that will connect to the data.Dataset access
Access to the resource is currently free of charge for academic researchers, subject to fair use limits to avoid overloading our services. Users can register and receive an API token directly on the website. The database comprises mainly publicly available datasets, but also includes a number of private datesets whose access is controlled through OAuth2.0 authentication. Please contact us if you have datasets that you would like to add, whether public or private. We have made all the public data available for download. We are using the GWAS VCF format to store the GWAS summary data to ensure alignment with the hg19 reference sequence, and to enable very fast querying. More information is available in the GWAS-VCF specification and on biorxiv. A list of all datasets, along with their meta-data and IDs, is also available through the API, R or Python packages, so it should be straightforward to create a subset of datasets to be downloaded through a loop. Note that there will be a relatively higher cost (deducted from your periodic allowance, usually given free of charge) to do this, as we pay money to the cloud service provider for the storage, requests handling and outbound bandwidth.Coverage
Spatial:
Worldwide
Typical Age Range:
0-150
Follow Up:
Unknown
Pathway:
The dataset covers a wide range of human phenotypic traits relating to many
different health outcomes.
Provenance
Origin
Purposes:
- Other
- Study
Sources:
Other
Collection Situations:
- Cohort, study, trial
- Clinic
- Other
Temporal
Accrual Periodicity:
Continuous
Start Date:
30 May 2018
Time Lag:
Variable
Accessibility
Access
Access Rights:
Access Service:
OpenGWAS is a cloud-based data aggregation and delivery service (OpenGWAS or the
platform) provided by the University of Bristol (UoB) that aggregates
genome-wide association study datasets (Datasets) and makes these accessible
through an application programming interface (API). For further details, see:
https://opengwas.io/policies/service-description
Access Request Cost:
No cost for academic research users
Delivery Lead Time:
Not applicable
Data Controller:
NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre
Data Processor:
NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre
Usage
Data Use Limitations:
Research use only
Data Use Requirements:
Not for profit use
Resource Creators:
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Schemes:
OTHER
Languages:
en
Formats:
- GWAS-VCF
- text/csv
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Findings
Total number of GWAS datasets
50069
COUNT
17 March 2026