Contribute to the VMD: Share Your Virtual Microscopy Images

Help expand access to high-quality virtual microscopy resources and advance anatomical sciences education worldwide.

The Virtual Microscopy Database (VMD) thrives through the generosity and collaboration of educators, researchers, and institutions that contribute their digital microscopy collections. By sharing your virtual histology images, you help build a diverse, accessible, and continuously expanding educational resource that supports teaching, learning, and research across the anatomical sciences.  Every contribution strengthens our shared mission of reducing barriers to high-quality microscopy resources, promoting educational innovation, and fostering collaboration among institutions worldwide.

We invite you to become a VMD contributor and help enrich this valuable resource for the global anatomical sciences community.

How to Contribute: 

If you or your institution would like to donate a collection of virtual microscopy images, please contact the VMD Administrative Team for information about submission requirements and the donation process.

Contact: virtualmicroscopydatabase@gmail.com

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who can contribute images?

Faculty, staff, and investigators affiliated with educational or research institutions are welcome to contribute digital microscopy collections.

• What are the benefits of contributing?

Contributors help expand a shared educational resource, promote institutional collaboration, and support broader access to virtual microscopy. Image donors also receive access to the VMD database regardless of AAA membership.

• What types of images can be submitted?

The VMD welcomes collections of digital tissue slides suitable for histology education and research.

Preferred file formats:

• JPEG2000 (.jpx, .jp2)

• Aperio (.svs)

• Hamamatsu NanoZoomer (.ndpi, .vms, .vmu)

• JPEG (.jpeg, .jpg)

• TIFF (.tiff, .tif)

File formats with limited support:

• Olympus VSI (.vsi): Supported for certain versions.

• Zeiss CZI (.czi): Limited support for large images due to streaming constraints.

• XMP sidecar (.xmp): Supported as accompanying metadata rather than as an image format.

• Are there copyright requirements?

Contributors must own the copyright to their submitted images or have appropriate authorization from the copyright holder. Copyright remains with the original owner. Images made available through the VMD are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Contributors should review the licensing terms before submitting materials.

Legal and Privacy Notices and Disclaimers

By using these features you agree to the rules laid out on this page.

General Disclaimer of Liability The content on this site is provided for informational, educational, and research purposes only and on an “as is” basis. AAA and the VMD Management Team do not warrant the accuracy, correctness, reliability, comprehensiveness, or currency of any content. AAA and VMD disclaim all warranties, express or implied, regarding any content, and further disclaim liability for any consequences from the use or misuse of any content.

Virtual Microscopy Database Without diminishing or limiting the above general disclaimer of liability, AAA and VMD do not warrant the accuracy, correctness, reliability, comprehensiveness, or currency of any drawing, diagram, image, or other information contained in the Virtual Microscopy Database. While VMD has taken steps to ensure that use of submissions to the Database will not result in copyright infringement, the VMD makes no assurances to this effect. Liability for the consequences of reliance on or use of any drawing, diagrams, images, or other information contained in the Database is hereby disclaimed.

Endorsements Any reference to a commercial or non-commercial product, process, service, or company is not an endorsement or recommendation by the VMD unless specifically stated as such. AAA and VMD assume no liability whatsoever for the use or contents of any product or service mentioned.

User Privacy and Confidentiality The VMD maintains the following privacy policy to protect personal information you may provide online. When you log on, you are not recognized and are anonymous. For each visitor to our web page, our web server automatically recognizes only the consumer’s domain name, but not the e-mail address. We collect information volunteered by the visitor, such as the survey information and site registration. The information we collect can be used for data and trends analysis or to contact visitors to support AAA and VMD. If you supply us with your postal address on-line, you may receive mailings from us with information about new programs and services. The personal information you provide is stored in a secure location, accessible only by appropriate staff, and is used only for the purposes, for which you provide the information. It will not be made available to others outside the AAA and the VMD team.

Copyright The copyright of all images deposited in the Virtual Microscopy Database (VMD) will remain with the original copyright owner. Before depositing any image files in the VMD, please make sure that you or your institution owns the copyright for these images or that you have proper permission from the copyright owner to deposit the image(s) in the VMD. The American Association of Anatomists, the VMD and the VMD managers hold no responsibility that the copyright belongs to the donor of the images or that proper consent has been obtained from the image’s copyright owner. If you believe that any image(s) in the VMD do not have the copyright owner’s consent, please contact the VMD managers.

Creative Commons License (CC) All images in the VMD are made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Creative Commons License (CC) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). By downloading or copying any of the VMD images, the user agrees to the restrictions as defined by the above CC license. All images downloaded from the VMD must be given proper credit to the image’s copyright holder and indicate if changes were made to the image(s). Without obtaining permission from the images’ copyright owner these images may NOT be used for any commercial purposes (including, but not limited to books for sale, subscription websites, product promotions and others). Please note that the VMD is not the copyright owner of any of the images. If you share downloaded or copied images (either modified or in its original form) with a third party, the same CC license applies to the recipient of the shared material.

Join Us in Advancing Histology Education

Your contribution can make a difference.

By sharing digital microscopy collections, you help educators and researchers access valuable resources, expand educational opportunities, and inspire the next generation of anatomical sciences learners.

Together, we can make virtual microscopy more accessible, collaborative, and impactful.