Papers presenting vegetation-plot databases and other ecoinformatics data sources relevant for vegetation classification as well as concepts and methods for using these should be submitted to this section. They should be classified into one of the above categories (Research Paper, Review and Synthesis, Forum Paper, Report).

VCS has established a formal collaboration with the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD; www.givd.info). It serves as outlet for Reports on GIVD activities, Short Database Reports (1 printed page, no text except abstract, no references) and Long Database Reports (3–8 printed pages, up to 25 references). Both types of Database Reports comprise as core element the standardised GIVD Fact Sheet. Database Reports in general are only possible for vegetation-plot databases registered in GIVD. Specifically, Long Database Reports are offered to databases from Europe (including Turkey, Cyprus and the Caucasus countries) and the United States with at least 5,000 plot observations or databases with at least 2,000 plot observations, while the thresholds for Short Database Reports are 1,000 and 400 plot observations, respectively. The given thresholds are valid for databases that have joined the supranational databases EVA and sPlot, respectively, and are doubled for those that have not. Moreover, Database Reports will only be accepted from databases that have not yet published such a GIVD-edited report or which have, after a previous Short Database Report, at least doubled their content. Database Reports of subsets of regional or national databases that have already published a GIVD Database Report will not be considered. Submissions of Database Reports must be accompanied by a recent GIVD Fact Sheet, which can be obtained from GIVD. The title of a Short Database Report consists of the name of the database (as registered in GIVD; capitalise all words because it is a proper name), possibly followed by a subtitle or explanation after an en-dash. For Long Database Reports, the title also must contain the unchanged proper name of the database, but otherwise its arrangement is more flexible. Further format specifications and instructions for submission are available from the Section Editors or from GIVD.