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Community-developed checklists for publishing images and image analyses
Christopher Schmied1,2, Michael S Nelson3, Sergiy Avilov4
1Fondazione Human Technopole, Milano, Italy. schmied@fmp-berlin.de.
Nature Methods
|September 14, 2023
Summary
New guidelines address the lack of standards for publishing microscopy images. These community-developed checklists improve image clarity and reproducibility in scientific publications.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical research
- Microscopy imaging
Background:
- Scientific discoveries increasingly rely on images, especially from microscopy.
- Current lack of unified guidelines for publishing microscopy images leads to unclear and difficult-to-interpret data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present community-developed checklists for preparing light microscopy images for publication.
- To provide recommendations for describing image analysis workflows to enhance clarity and reproducibility.
Main Methods:
- Development of community-based checklists for image preparation and analysis reporting.
- Inclusion of recommendations for image formatting, annotation, color selection, and data availability.
Main Results:
- Checklists offer key recommendations for authors, readers, and publishers.
- Guidelines aim to improve the quality and explanatory power of microscopy data in publications.
Conclusions:
- Implementing these guidelines will enhance the clarity and reproducibility of image figures.
- The checklists support better understanding and utilization of microscopy data in scientific literature.
