New Author Guidelines for Displaying Data and Reporting Data Analysis and Statistical Methods in Experimental Biology

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
• Biomedical Research Reporting

Background:

• The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) has revised author instructions for key journals.
• Revisions focus on enhancing the granularity and transparency of data analysis and reporting in published research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To inform researchers about significant updates to author guidelines for ASPET journals.
• To explain the rationale behind revised standards for statistical analysis and data presentation.

Main Methods:

• The revisions mandate clearer distinctions between preplanned and exploratory studies.
• Guidelines specify the reporting of sample size, statistical test selection, and outlier handling.
• Emphasis is placed on reporting effect sizes with confidence intervals over P values.

Main Results:

• New guidelines require detailed descriptions of study design elements and data analysis procedures.
• Standardized methods for reporting variability (S.D. or IQR) and precision (confidence intervals) are mandated.
• Recommendations include using scatter plots or box-and-whisker plots instead of bar graphs for better data visualization.

Conclusions:

• These revised guidelines promote more transparent and less biased reporting of scientific findings.
• Adherence to the new standards is expected to improve the reproducibility and interpretability of research in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.