Stable isotopes encode and integrate the origin of matter; thus, their analysis offers tremendous potential to address questions across diverse scientific disciplines (1, 2). Indeed, the broad applicability of stable isotopes, coupled with advancements in high-throughput analysis, have created a scientific field that is growing exponentially, and generating data at a rate paralleling the explosive rise of DNA sequencing and genomics (3). Centralized data repositories, such as GenBank, have become increasingly important as a means for archiving information, and “Big Data” analytics of these resources are revolutionizing science and everyday life.

However, to date a centralized database for the management of isotopic data does not exist. We believe that the absence of such a resource has impeded research progress through the unnecessary duplication of effort, restricted the near-boundless application of stable isotopes, and curtailed the exchange of information among researchers. The creation of such a centralized database would be more than a silo for data; it would be a dynamic resource to unite disciplinary fields and answer pressing questions in agriculture, animal sciences, archaeology, anthropology, ecology, medicine, nutrition, physiology, paleontology, forensics, and earth and planetary sciences. We believe that a centralized database for isotopes would accelerate and enhance such global and multidisciplinary endeavors, thus broaden the reach of isotope science. Here, we—a group of stable isotope scientists, data managers, museum curators, journal editors, and educators—offer a vision for the public repository’s identity, structure, and long-term sustainability.

↵¹To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jnpauli{at}wisc.edu.