Crystallographic Information Framework

E143736

data format ontology scientific data standard

The Crystallographic Information Framework is a standardized data format and ontology used worldwide for representing, exchanging, and archiving crystallographic and related structural science data.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (10)

Label	Occurrences
Crystallographic Information Framework canonical	6
Crystallographic Information File	4
Crystallographic Information File format	2
image Crystallographic Information File	2
CIF (Crystallographic Information Framework) standards	1
CIF powder diffraction dictionary	1
Crystallographic Information File version 1	1
Crystallographic Information Framework version 2	1
IUCr CIF dictionaries	1
mmCIF	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1253881 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Crystallographic Information Framework
Context triple: [International Union of Crystallography, developsStandard, Crystallographic Information Framework]

A. Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre is a leading research organization that curates and distributes the world’s primary database of small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures for the scientific community.
B. GSAS
GSAS is Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which oversees most of the institution's PhD and many master's programs in the arts and sciences.
C. American Crystallographic Association
The American Crystallographic Association is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of crystal structures and promoting research and education in crystallography.
D. International Union of Crystallography
The International Union of Crystallography is a global scientific organization that promotes international cooperation in crystallography, sets standards, and publishes key journals and reference works in the field.
E. Molecular Foundry
The Molecular Foundry is a U.S. Department of Energy nanoscience research facility that provides state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise for the design, synthesis, and characterization of nanoscale materials.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Crystallographic Information Framework
Target entity description: The Crystallographic Information Framework is a standardized data format and ontology used worldwide for representing, exchanging, and archiving crystallographic and related structural science data.

A. Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre is a leading research organization that curates and distributes the world’s primary database of small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures for the scientific community.
B. GSAS
GSAS is Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which oversees most of the institution's PhD and many master's programs in the arts and sciences.
C. American Crystallographic Association
The American Crystallographic Association is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of crystal structures and promoting research and education in crystallography.
D. International Union of Crystallography
The International Union of Crystallography is a global scientific organization that promotes international cooperation in crystallography, sets standards, and publishes key journals and reference works in the field.
E. Molecular Foundry
The Molecular Foundry is a U.S. Department of Energy nanoscience research facility that provides state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise for the design, synthesis, and characterization of nanoscale materials.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	data format ⓘ ontology ⓘ scientific data standard ⓘ
abbreviation	CIF ⓘ linked to: Cif
acronymOf	Crystallographic Information Framework ⓘ
appliesTo	macromolecular crystallography ⓘ materials science structures ⓘ powder diffraction ⓘ small-molecule crystallography ⓘ
basedOn	self-describing tagged data items ⓘ
characteristic	human-readable text format ⓘ machine-parseable structure ⓘ
dataModel	key–value pairs with data names and values ⓘ
enables	automatic checking of structural data consistency ⓘ linking of structural data with metadata dictionaries ⓘ
field	crystallography ⓘ structural science ⓘ
goal	ensuring reproducibility of structural results ⓘ facilitation of data sharing in crystallography ⓘ standardization of crystallographic data representation ⓘ
governingBody	IUCr Committee for the Maintenance of the CIF Standard ⓘ
hasComponent	CIF data files ⓘ CIF dictionaries ⓘ CIF syntax ⓘ dictionary definition language ⓘ
hasFormat	.cif file extension ⓘ
hasVersion	CIF1 ⓘ CIF2 ⓘ
origin	International Union of Crystallography data-standards initiative ⓘ linked to: International Union of Crystallography
primaryDomain	electron diffraction ⓘ neutron diffraction ⓘ x-ray crystallography ⓘ
relatedStandard	STAR File syntax ⓘ imgCIF ⓘ mmCIF ⓘ linked to: Crystallographic Information Framework
scope	crystallographic and related structural science data ⓘ
standardizedBy	International Union of Crystallography ⓘ
supports	interoperable data exchange ⓘ long-term data archiving ⓘ machine-readable crystallographic metadata ⓘ validation of crystallographic data ⓘ
use	archiving crystallographic data ⓘ exchanging crystallographic data ⓘ representing crystallographic data ⓘ
usedBy	crystallographic databases ⓘ crystallographic software packages ⓘ journals in crystallography ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (20)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

International Union of Crystallography → developsStandard → Crystallographic Information Framework ⓘ

International Union of Crystallography → developsStandard → Crystallographic Information File ⓘ