Balancing sufficiency and impact in reporting standards for mass spectrometry imaging experiments

Area of Science:

• Scientific reporting standards
• Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI)
• Research reproducibility

Background:

• Accurate reporting of experiments and data is vital for scientific reproducibility.
• Existing mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) reporting standards can be exhaustive, limiting their adoption.
• There is a need for accessible and extensible reporting guidelines in MSI research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose new reporting guidelines for mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) experiments.
• To introduce Minimum Information About a Mass Spectrometry Imaging Experiment (MIAMSIE) for improved author-driven reporting.
• To present MSIcheck, an abbreviated standard for diagnostic review of MSI reporting.

Main Methods:

• Development of MIAMSIE as an extensible reporting supplement.
• Creation of MSIcheck as a focused diagnostic tool for MSI reporting.
• Implementation and testing of both MIAMSIE and MSIcheck on selected literature and datasets.

Main Results:

• MIAMSIE was reviewed by authors on four articles and a dataset.
• MSIcheck review of recent MSI literature revealed issues in data provision and reporting of analysis steps and calibration.
• The proposed guidelines aim to enhance reporting quality and address current limitations.

Conclusions:

• MIAMSIE and MSIcheck offer practical solutions to improve MSI reporting quality and reproducibility.
• These guidelines are designed for extensibility and potential broader application beyond MSI.
• The approach can serve as a general strategy for enhancing scientific reporting across disciplines.