Skip to Content
ENA SubmissionPreparing a Submission

Preparing a Submission

Before submitting to ENA, your study and samples must meet a set of validation requirements. This page covers what needs to be in place.

Study Requirements

FieldRequirement
TitleRequired, minimum 10 characters
AliasRequired, must be unique
DescriptionRequired, minimum 50 characters
Checklist TypeRequired (selects the MIxS metadata standard)
Ready for SubmissionMust be set to true

Sample Requirements

Every sample in the study must have:

FieldRequirement
Sample AliasRequired, unique within the study
Sample TitleRequired
Tax IDRequired, must be a valid NCBI taxonomy ID
Scientific NameRecommended (auto-filled from taxonomy lookup)
MIxS MetadataRequired fields for the selected checklist must be filled

Tax ID

The taxonomy ID is the most common source of validation errors. Every sample must have a valid NCBI taxonomy ID:

  • For species samples: use the species-level tax ID
  • For metagenomes: use the appropriate metagenome identifier (e.g., 408170 for human gut metagenome)

See Organism & Taxonomy for common identifiers.

MIxS Fields

The required metadata fields depend on the checklist type selected for the study. Common required fields across most checklists:

  • Geographic location (country and/or region)
  • Geographic coordinates (latitude, longitude)
  • Collection date
  • Environmental context (broad-scale and local)
  • Environmental medium

Validation Checklist

Before submission, verify:

  1. Study has a descriptive title and description
  2. All samples have valid taxonomy IDs
  3. Required MIxS fields are filled for all samples
  4. Samples have unique aliases
  5. The study is marked as ready for submission
  6. ENA credentials are configured (see ENA Credentials)

Common Validation Issues

IssueSolution
Missing tax IDUse the organism autocomplete to search NCBI taxonomy
Invalid tax IDVerify the ID at NCBI Taxonomy website
Missing required MIxS fieldsCheck the checklist requirements and fill all mandatory fields
Duplicate sample aliasEnsure each sample has a unique alias within the study
Study description too shortAdd at least 50 characters of meaningful description

Test Mode

Always start with test mode enabled:

  1. Configure ENA credentials in Admin → ENA Configuration
  2. Enable Test Mode (uses wwwdev.ebi.ac.uk instead of production)
  3. Submit to the test server to validate everything
  4. Test submissions expire after 24 hours on ENA’s side
  5. Once validated, disable test mode and submit to production