WorkflowHub: A registry for computational workflows

Workflows Community Talks / WorkflowHub: A registry for computational workflows

WorkflowHub: A registry for computational workflows

Carole Goble (University of Manchester), Johan Gustafsson (Australian BioCommons, University of Melbourne)

Talk details

Date July 16, 2025
Time 11am-11.30 PST / 2pm-2.30 EST / 20:00-20:30 CEST

Overview

The rising popularity of computational workflows is driven by the need for repetitive and scalable data processing, sharing of processing know-how, and transparent methods. As both combined records of analysis and descriptions of processing steps, workflows should be reproducible, reusable, adaptable, and available. Workflow sharing presents opportunities to reduce unnecessary reinvention, promote reuse, increase access to best practice analyses for non-experts, and increase productivity. In reality, workflows are scattered and difficult to find, in part due to the diversity of available workflow engines and ecosystems, and because workflow sharing is not yet part of research practice.

WorkflowHub provides a unified registry for all computational workflows that links to community repositories, and supports both the workflow lifecycle and making workflows findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). By interoperating with diverse platforms, services, and external registries, WorkflowHub adds value by supporting workflow sharing, explicitly assigning credit, enhancing FAIRness, and promoting workflows as scholarly artefacts. The registry has a global reach, with hundreds of research organisations involved, and more than 1,200 workflows registered.

From the abstract of the paper: Gustafsson, O.J.R., Wilkinson, S.R., Bacall, F. et al. WorkflowHub: a registry for computational workflows. Sci Data 12, 837 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04786-3

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