BioCyc Subscription FAQ

I am having trouble getting BioCyc to recognize my subscription

Please see our Troubleshooting page.

I only use EcoCyc. Will I need a subscription for access?

No, you do not currently need a subscription to access that database, but you will be asked to create a FREE BioCyc account to access EcoCyc.

I am a faculty member at a university. How can I set up subscription access for my institution?

The best way to do this is by contacting your institution's Information Technology (IT) department to request they purchase a subscription. If you can't find their's contact information, please contact us and we can try to help you locate this information.

Can I just get a subscription to one database within BioCyc for a lower price?

No, all subscriptions provide the same level of access: unrestricted access to all databases within BioCyc.

My institution or company has a subscription to BioCyc, but I am being prompted to log in to access the database. What should I do?

After a small number of free access, all BioCyc users are asked to create free accounts, even if their institution subscribes.

In addition, if you are off-campus, make sure you are accessing BioCyc through your institution's VPN or proxy server. If you don't know how to do this, please contact your IT department. If you are on-campus, please contact us with a screenshot of the issue and your public IP address where you are experiencing the issue.

What will happen if my institution/company/I don't have a subscription?

You can obtain a free trial for BioCyc for one month by creating a BioCyc account. Once the one month has expired, you will only be able to access the free databases EcoCyc and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii A2-165.

My institution's fiscal year is closed so we will need to wait to purchase new materials. Can we get access now?

Please contact us to discuss your options.

I use BioCyc at a nonprofit institution, but I am not a faculty member. What can I do to help set up a subscription for my institution?

The best way to do this is also by contacting your IT department, but your request will be more effective if you ask your lab head or Principal Investigator (i.e., a faculty member) to submit the request.

How is the price of an institutional BioCyc subscription set?

During the first year, your price will be set based on the size of your institution. In following years, the price is determined by usage in the prior year. This page describes how we count usage.

My company has strict data security policies, or it only allows us to access data through our own internal software. Is there a way we can download your data to keep in-house?

Yes, please contact us about your unique situation -- it is possible to create an internal mirror for BioCyc.

Do you support EZProxy?

Yes, many of our subscribers use EZ-Proxy for their off-campus access.

If you are a subscriber and need our configuration stanza, it is as follows:

Title BioCyc
URL https://biocyc.org
H https://www.biocyc.org/
H https://ecocyc.org/
H https://www.ecocyc.org/
H https://metacyc.org/
H https://www.metacyc.org/
H https://humancyc.org/
H https://www.humancyc.org/
H https://bsubcyc.org/
H https://www.bsubcyc.org/
H http://brg-files.ai.sri.com
DJ biocyc.org
DJ ecocyc.org
DJ metacyc.org
DJ humancyc.org
DJ bsubcyc.org
DJ brg-files.ai.sri.com