You are here:
Non-Targeted Analysis Study Reporting Tool: A Framework to Improve Research Transparency and Reproducibility
Citation:
Peter, K., A. Phillips, A. Knolhoff, P. Gardinali, C. Manzano, K. Miller, M. Pristner, L. Sabourin, M. Sumarah, B. Warth, AND J. Sobus. Non-Targeted Analysis Study Reporting Tool: A Framework to Improve Research Transparency and Reproducibility. Analytical Chemistry. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 93(41):13870-13879, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02621
Impact/Purpose:
We developed the NTA Study Reporting Tool (SRT) — a flexible, living framework for assessing the quality of NTA study reporting. The SRT evolved from efforts by the Benchmarking and Publications for Non-Targeted Analysis (BP4NTA; www.nontargetedanalysis.org) working group to develop and disseminate clear recommendations for NTA study design, results reporting, and quality assurance practices. While the BP4NTA reference content27 includes recommendations for ensuring NTA research quality, the SRT focuses on assessing NTA reporting quality. As such, the SRT was designed to aid NTA practitioners, reviewers, and editors in developing and evaluating the quality of research manuscripts and proposals from the perspective of comprehensive, reproducible, and transparent reporting.
Description:
Non-targeted analysis (NTA) workflows using mass spectrometry are gaining popularity in many disciplines, but universally accepted reporting standards are nonexistent. Current guidance addresses limited elements of NTA reporting-most notably, identification confidence-and is insufficient to ensure scientific transparency and reproducibility given the complexity of these methods. This lack of reporting standards hinders researchers' development of thorough study protocols and reviewers' ability to efficiently assess grant and manuscript submissions. To overcome these challenges, we developed the NTA Study Reporting Tool (SRT), an easy-to-use, interdisciplinary framework for comprehensive NTA methods and results reporting. Eleven NTA practitioners reviewed eight published articles covering environmental, food, and health-based exposomic applications with the SRT. Overall, our analysis demonstrated that the SRT provides a valid structure to guide study design and manuscript writing, as well as to evaluate NTA reporting quality. Scores self-assigned by authors fell within the range of peer-reviewer scores, indicating that SRT use for self-evaluation will strengthen reporting practices. The results also highlighted NTA reporting areas that need immediate improvement, such as analytical sequence and quality assurance/quality control information. Although scores intentionally do not correspond to data/results quality, widespread implementation of the SRT could improve study design and standardize reporting practices, ultimately leading to broader use and acceptance of NTA data.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Non-Targeted Analysis Study Reporting Tool: A Framework to Improve Research Transparency and Reproducibility
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34618419/