Working in biocuration: contemporary experiences and perspectives

This perspective article synthesizes current knowledge regarding what is known regarding biocuration as a career and the challenges facing the field. It draws on existing literature and ongoing qualitative research to discuss the nature of biocuration, biocurators’ career trajectories, key challenges that biocurators face, and strategies for overcoming these. Overall, biocurators express a high degree of satisfaction with their work and see it as central to the wider biosciences. The central challenges that they face relate to the underfunding and under-recognition of this work, meaning that there is minimal stable funding for the field and that the work of human biocurators is often invisible to those who use curated resources. The article closes by critically discussing existing and potential strategies for responding to these challenges.