Open AccessStructured Methods for reproducible science
Author(s) -
Polychronidou Maria
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular systems biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.523
H-Index - 148
ISSN - 1744-4292
DOI - 10.15252/msb.20188556
Subject(s) - documentation , listing (finance) , identifier , computer science , key (lock) , table (database) , section (typography) , library science , software , data science , world wide web , information retrieval , biology , programming language , data mining , computer security , finance , economics , operating system
Detailed and accurate documentation of the reagents, tools and methods used in a study is key for reproducible science. However, the information provided in the Materials and Methods section is not always sufficiently detailed to allow for the adoption of methodologies across laboratories. Substantial time and effort, as well as extensive correspondence with the authors of a published paper, is often required in order to obtain all the relevant information related to a particular technique. Even after following a trail of references that frequently lead to a paper published decades ago, it is sometimes impossible to find a sufficiently detailed description of a technique “performed as described before”.