This document is applicable to the data exchange format that is designed to facilitate exchanging omics data around the world without forcing changes of any database schema.

This document specifies the characteristics of OML from the following perspectives.

From an informatics perspective, OML defines the data exchange format based on XML. This document gives guidelines for the specifications of the data exchange format, but this document excludes the database schema itself.

From a molecular side of view, this document is applicable to all kinds of omics data, while this document excludes the details of the molecules (e.g., details of genomic sequence variations or whole genomic sequence). This document is also applicable to the molecular annotations including clinical concerns and relations with other omics concerns.

From an application side of view, this document is applicable to the clinical field including clinical practice, preventive medicine, translational research, and clinical research including drug discovery. This document does not apply to basic research and other scientific fields.

From a biological species side of view, this document is applicable to the human health-associated species as human, preclinical animals, and cell lines. This document does not apply to the other biological species.