`
` nature portfolio
`
` editorial policies
`
` reporting standards and availability of data, materials, code and protocols
`
`Editorial policies
`Authorship
`Competing interests
`Research Ethics
`Reporting standards and
`availability of data, materials, code
`and protocols
`Image integrity and standards
`Plagiarism and duplicate
`publication
`Corrections, Retractions and
`Matters Arising
`Peer Review
`Confidentiality
`Acknowledgements
`Preprints & Conference
`Proceedings
`Press and embargo policies
`Self archiving and license to
`publish
`Appeals & Complaints
`Artificial Intelligence (AI)
`Collections, Guest Edited
`Collections, and Special Issues
`Communicate with Respect
`
`Reporting standards and availability of data,
`materials, code and protocols
`An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon
`the authors' published claims. A condition of publication in a Nature Portfolio journal is that
`authors are required to make materials, data, code, and associated protocols promptly
`available to readers without undue qualifications. Any restrictions on the availability of
`materials or information must be disclosed to the editors at the time of submission. Any
`restrictions must also be disclosed in the submitted manuscript.
`
`After publication, readers who encounter refusal by the authors to comply with these policies
`should contact the chief editor of the journal. In cases where editors are unable to resolve a
`complaint, the journal may refer the matter to the authors' funding institution and/or publish
`a formal statement of correction, attached online to the publication, stating that readers have
`been unable to obtain necessary materials to replicate the findings.
`
`On this page
`Reporting requirements
`Availability of data
`Availability of materials
`Availability and peer review of computer code and algorithm
`Experimental protocols
`Pre-registration
`Replication studies
`Clinical trials
`Nature Portfolio journals' editorials
`Reporting requirements
`Nature Portfolio journals aim to improve the transparency of reporting and reproducibility of
`published results across all areas of science. Before peer review, the corresponding author
`must complete an editorial policy checklist to ensure compliance with Nature Portfolio
`editorial policies; where relevant, manuscripts sent for review must include completed
`reporting summary documents
`
`Reporting requirements for research in the life sciences, behavioural & social
`sciences and ecology, evolution & environmental sciences
`Authors of research articles in the life sciences, behavioural & social sciences and ecology,
`evolution & environmental sciences are required to provide details about elements of
`experimental and analytical design that are frequently poorly reported in a reporting
`summary that will be made available to editors and reviewers during manuscript assessment.
`The reporting summary will be published with all accepted manuscripts.
`
`Reporting requirements for physical sciences research
`For physical sciences, we require authors of research articles in some specific areas to provide
`details of characterization, or experimental and analytical design in a reporting summary,
`which will be made available to editors and reviewers during manuscript assessment and
`published with an accepted manuscript:
`
`BLUEBIRD EXHIBIT 1055
`bluebird v. SKI
`IPR2023-00074
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`Page 1 of 12
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`
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`Solar cells
`Claims of lasing
`
`Reference copies
`Please note: because of advanced features used in these forms, you must use Adobe Reader
`to open the documents and fill them out. If you would like to quickly view the forms or would
`like to reference the guidance text as you complete the template, please access a flat
`reference copy:
`
`Editorial policy checklist
`Reporting summary
`Solar cells
`Claims of lasing
`
`We support community efforts to increase transparency and quality of methods reporting.
`Thus, we have made these templates available for reuse and adaptation with attribution
`under a CC-BY license.
`
`Guidance and resources related to the use and reporting of statistics are available here.
`
`Reporting and materials availability requirements for geological,
`archaeological, and palaeontological research
`Details of geological samples, archaeological materials and palaeontological specimens
`should include clear provenance information to ensure full transparency of the research
`methods. Samples should always be collected and exported in a responsible manner and in
`accordance with relevant permits and local laws. Any submission detailing new material from
`protected sites should include information regarding the requisite permission obtained.
`Palaeontological and type specimens should be deposited in a recognised museum or
`collection to permit free access by other researchers in perpetuity. Where applicable,
`accession codes should be provided for museum depositions, and we encourage deposition
`of 3-D scans of fossil specimens within a permanent, accessible repository to facilitate study
`by the scientific community.
`
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`Availability of data
`Data availability: All published manuscripts reporting original research in Nature Portfolio
`journals must include a data availability statement. The data availability statement must make
`the conditions of access to the “minimum dataset” that are necessary to interpret, verify and
`extend the research in the article, transparent to readers. This minimum dataset may be
`provided through deposition in public community/discipline-specific repositories, custom
`proprietary repositories for certain types of datasets, or general repositories like Figshare,
`Zenodo and Dryad. Providing large datasets in supplementary information is strongly
`discouraged and the preferred approach is to make data available in repositories. Scientific
`Data, a Nature Portfolio journal, maintains a list of approved and recommended data
`repositories to support researchers seeking suitable repositories for their data. Please refer to
`our authorship policy for information about authors’ responsibilities for preserving and
`making available data, code and materials upon publication. Authors are responsible for
`obtaining all necessary permissions and ensuring compliance with local regulatory
`requirements for data sharing.
`
`Mandatory deposition of data is required for certain data types; see table below with
`recommended repositories. Supporting data must be made available to editors and peer
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`reviewers where requested at the time of submission for the purposes of evaluating the
`manuscript. Any restrictions on sharing must be discussed with the editor at submission who
`reserves the right to decline the study if these conditions are found to be unduly prohibitive.
`
`Nature Portfolio journals' data availability policies are compatible with the standardised
`research data policies set out by Springer Nature. Authors who need help understanding our
`data sharing policies, finding a suitable data repository, or organising and sharing research
`data can access our Author Support portal for additional guidance.
`
`Data availability statements should include information where relevant on the
`following aspects:
`
`Information about access to primary datasets (generated during the study) and
`referenced datasets (datasets analyzed in the study) must be provided. Where data are
`publicly available, accession codes or other unique identifiers if relevant must be
`provided.
`Clinical trial data: data availability statements for manuscripts reporting clinical trial
`data should follow the standards set out in the ICMJE recommendations on clinical trial
`data sharing and provide the following information:
`whether individual de-identified participant data (including data dictionaries) will
`be shared (“undecided” is not an acceptable answer);
`what data in particular will be shared;
`whether additional, related documents will be available (e.g., study protocol,
`statistical analysis plan, etc.);
`when the data will become available and for how long;
`by what access criteria data will be shared (including with whom, for what types of
`analyses, and by what mechanism).
`
`Data availability subject to controlled access: the data availability statement should
`include the following information: reasons for controlled access (eg., privacy,
`ethical/legal issues), conditions of access must be described precisely including contact
`details for access requests, timeframe for response to requests, restrictions imposed on
`data use via data use agreements. A copy or link to the data use agreement should be
`provided if requested by editors. Restrictions on controlled access datasets including
`restrictions on downstream data reuse or authorship requirements must be clearly
`described in manuscript and to editors at the time of submission. Editors may decline
`further consideration of the manuscript after evaluation if restrictions are found to be
`unduly prohibitive.
`Third party data: when data obtained from third parties cannot be made available, the
`restrictions should be clearly stated in the data availability statement. Authors must
`make data available for purposes of peer review, if requested by reviewers, within the
`terms of a data use agreement and if compliant with ethical and legal requirements.
`
`· Proprietary data: Authors are responsible for ensuring and obtaining agreement with the
`third party data provider that dataset (s) used in the study will be available under conditions
`specified in the data availability statement (including whether the dataset will be available for
`a fee) so as to ensure post-publication availability for replication and verification purposes.
`Availability for this purpose must be clearly stated in the data availability statement.
`
` · Administrative data (including data held by governments, local authorities and
`international organizations): Social science and other studies using administrative data must
`
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`ensure that the data are used in compliance with local regulatory and legal frameworks that
`govern data use.
`
`· Identity of third party provider: the identity of the third party data provider must be made
`known to the editors at time of submission and peer review. We expect that the data
`availability statement will state the identity of the third party data source; exceptions may be
`made for studies where the identity of the data provider is not relevant to the study and/or
`public release pose a reputational or commercial risk to the data provider. See published
`examples here and here.
`
`Researchers should provide information in the manuscript on their data collection methods
`sufficient to support peer review. If data processing steps were performed by the third-party,
`out of the control of the authors, this should be clearly stated in the methods. Editors reserve
`the right to decline consideration if a manuscript fails to provide sufficient information
`regarding data collection approach.
`
`Data citation: Datasets that have been deposited in repositories should be included as
`formal citations in the article reference list. This includes datasets generated during the study
`as well as existing datasets analyzed during the study. Citations of datasets should include
`the minimum information recommended by DataCite and follow Nature Portfolio style
`including: author(s), title, publisher (repository name), and identifier.
`
`Dataset identifiers including DOIs should be expressed as full URLs. For example: Hao, Z.,
`AghaKouchak, A., Nakhjiri, N. & Farahmand, A. Global Integrated Drought Monitoring and
`Prediction System (GIDMaPS) Data sets. figshare
`http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.853801 (2014)
`
`More information about writing data availability statements and data citation is available
`through the Springer Nature Research Data policy page.
`
`Mandates for specific datasets
`For the following types of data set, submission to a community-endorsed, public repository is
`mandatory. Accession numbers must be provided in the paper. Examples of appropriate
`public repositories are listed below and here.
`
`Suitable repositories
`Mandatory deposition
`Protein sequences
`Uniprot
`DNA and RNA sequences
`Genbank
`
`DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ)
`
`EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (ENA)
`DNA and RNA sequencing data
`NCBI Trace Archive
`
`NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA)
`Genetic polymorphisms
`dbSNP
`
`dbVar
`
`European Variation Archive (EVA)
`Linked genotype and phenotype data
`dbGAP
`
`The European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA)
`Macromolecular structure
`Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB)
`
`Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB)
`
`Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB)
`Gene expression data (must be MIAME compliant) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO)
`
`ArrayExpress
`
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`Crystallographic data for small molecules
`Proteomics data
`*Earth, space & environmental sciences
`
`Cambridge Structural Database
`PRIDE
`Recommended Repositories
`
`*From January 2019, where community repositories are available, we will require data sharing
`through such repositories for papers in the Earth, space and environmental sciences
`published in Nature, Nature Geoscience and Communications Earth & Environment. Where
`such repositories are not available, datasets may be hosted in general data repositories such
`as Figshare, Dryad or Zenodo. See our editorial for more details.
`
`Special considerations
`DNA and protein sequences: When publishing reference genomes, the assembly must be
`made available in addition to the sequence reads. Sequence must be deposited even for
`short stretches of novel sequence information such as epitopes, functional domains, genetic
`markers, or haplotypes. Short novel sequences must include surrounding sequence
`information to provide context. The sequences of all small RNA probes central to the
`conclusions of the paper must be provided.
`
`Linked phenotype and genotype data for human subjects: should be submitted to a
`public repository with appropriate access control (see above). Any restrictions on data access
`for sensitive data (for example electronic medical records, forensic data, and personal data
`from vulnerable populations) require an explanation of the nature of and reasons for the
`restrictions, and details of the conditions under which the data can be accessed or reused.
`(See the related Nature Genetics Editorial discussing privacy issues.)
`
`Macromolecular structures: Official validation reports from the wwPDB are required for
`peer review. Atomic coordinates and related experimental data (structure factor
`amplitudes/intensities for crystal structures, or restraints for NMR structures) must be
`provided upon request. Electron microscopy-derived density maps and coordinate data must
`be deposited in EMDB. Accessibility in repositories must be designated "for immediate
`release on publication."
`
`Crystallographic data for small molecules: Manuscript reporting new three-dimensional
`structures of small molecules from crystallographic analysis should include a .cif file and a
`structural figure with probability ellipsoids for publication as Supplementary Information. The
`structure factors for each structure should also be submitted. Both the structure factors and
`the structural output must have been checked using the IUCR CheckCIF routine, and a PDF
`copy of the output must be included at submission, together with a justification for any alerts
`reported.
`
`Recommendations for other datasets
`In addition to these mandates, the preferred way to share any data sets is via public
`repositories. Scientific Data, a sister publication to Nature Portfolio journals, maintains a list of
`approved and recommended data repositories organized by discipline. Please consult this list
`to identify an appropriate repository for your data sets.
`
`When repositories do not exist for a particular data type, authors can deposit and share data
`via figshare or Dryad, two general-purpose scientific data repositories.
`
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`Availability of materials
`
`Page 5 of 12
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`A condition of publication in a Nature Portfolio journal is that authors are required to make
`unique materials promptly available to others without undue qualifications. It is acceptable to
`request reasonable payment to cover costs of distribution and reagents may be made
`available via commercial or non-commercial third party providers. Any restrictions on
`materials availability, including if materials are to be distributed by a for-profit company,
`must be clearly stated in the paper. As per our policy on authorship responsibilities, it is
`expected that the corresponding author (or relevant designated authors) will be responsible
`for materials availability unless otherwise stated.
`
`Nature Portfolio supports the Resource Identification Initiative, with the aim of promoting
`unique, persistent identification and tracking of key biological resources, including
`antibodies, cell lines, model organisms and tools. We encourage authors to include unique
`identifiers provided by the Resource Identification Portal, (RRIDs; for example, Antibody:
`RRID:AB_2140114; Organism: RRID:MGI_MGI:3840442), in the manuscript. More information
`on how to include listed RRIDs or generate new RRIDs can be found on the Resource
`Identification Portal.
`
`Authors reporting new chemical compounds integral to the conclusions of the paper must
`provide the chemical structure, synthesis and characterization of the compounds with
`sufficient experimental details to allow other researchers to reproduce the synthesis and
`characterization.
`
`For biological materials such as mutant strains and cell lines the Nature Portfolio journals
`recommend authors use established public repositories when one exists (for example,
`Jackson Laboratory, the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA), the European Conditional
`Mouse Mutagenesis Program (EUCOMM), the Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP), Addgene,
`RIKEN Bioresource Centre, the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers, American Type
`Culture Collection, and provide accession numbers in the manuscript.
`
`Cell lines: We strongly encourage deposition of new cell lines in repositories that will
`distribute them with certificates of authentication. Alternatively, we recommend that authors
`establish a profile of their new cell lines to allow future authentication. The distribution of
`human cell lines used in research should not be hindered by restrictions from donors.
`Researchers developing cell lines must investigate and disclose any restrictions associated
`with the tissue they are using (see this Nature Editorial for further explanation.) Cell line
`misidentification and cross-contamination is a common problem with serious consequences.
`Authors are asked to report on the source and authentication of their cell lines (relevant
`resources are listed under Further Reading)”.
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`Availability and peer review of computer code and algorithm
`Authors must make available upon request, to editors and reviewers, any previously
`unreported custom computer code or algorithm used to generate results that are reported in
`the paper and central to its main claims. Any reason that would preclude the need for code
`or algorithm sharing will be evaluated by the editors who reserve the right to decline the
`paper if important code is unavailable.
`
`For all studies using custom code or mathematical algorithm that is deemed central to the
`conclusions, a statement must be included under the heading "Code availability", indicating
`whether and how the code or algorithm can be accessed, including any restrictions to access.
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`Code availability statements should be provided as a separate section after the data
`availability statement but before the references.
`
`Upon publication, Nature Portfolio journals consider it best practice to release custom
`computer code in a way that allows readers to repeat the published results. Code should be
`deposited in a DOI-minting repository such as Zenodo or Code Ocean and cited in the
`reference list following the guidelines described here. Authors are encouraged to manage
`subsequent code versions and to use a license approved by the open source initiative. Full
`details about how the code can be accessed and any restrictions must be described in the
`Code Availability statement.
`
`Peer review of code/algorithm/software: A subset of Nature journals (listed below)
`undertake peer review of custom code or mathematical algorithm, and software, when it is
`central to the manuscript. For code/algorithm peer review, we require release of
`code/algorithm during the peer review process, verification by peer reviewers and release of
`code/algorithm at publication. Authors must fill out a Code and Software submission
`checklist. Further detailed guidance and required documentation at submission and
`acceptance of the manuscript can be found here.
`
`Nature
`Nature Biomedical Engineering
`Nature Biotechnology
`Nature Cancer
`Nature Catalysis
`Nature Chemical Biology
`Nature Chemistry
`Nature Communications
`Nature Computational Science
`Nature Electronics
`Nature Energy
`Nature Human Behaviour
`Nature Immunology
`Nature Machine Intelligence
`Nature Medicine
`Nature Methods
`Nature Neuroscience
`Nature Protocols
`Nature Synthesis
`Communications Psychology
`
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`Experimental protocols
`Nature Portfolio journals encourage authors to share their step-by-step experimental
`protocols on a protocol sharing platform of their choice. Where such protocols are available,
`please provide a DOI or other citation details in the paper. Nature Portfolio’s Protocol
`Exchange is a free-to-use and open resource for protocols; protocols deposited in Protocol
`Exchange are citable and can be linked from the published article. More details can found at
`www.nature.com/protocolexchange/about.
`
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`Pre-registration
`Nature Portfolio journals support study pre-registration (including clinical trials) and pre-
`registration of analysis plans in public repositories; details of pre-registration should be
`provided with submission.
`
`Registered Reports, a research article format intended to reduce publication bias and increase
`methodological rigour is available at Nature Human Behaviour, for select disciplines
`at Nature Communications, Nature Methods, and Scientific Reports. Registered Reports
`involves a two-stage peer review approach where methods and analysis are pre-registered
`and peer reviewed before carrying out the intended research.
`
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`Replication studies
`Nature Portfolio appreciates the value of replication of previous findings. We welcome
`submission of replication studies that provide new insights into previously published results
`and will evaluate these submissions with the same editorial standards we apply to other
`submissions.
`
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`Clinical Trials
`Authors reporting phase II and phase III randomized controlled trials must refer to the
`CONSORT Statement for recommendations to facilitate the complete and transparent
`reporting of trial findings. Reports that do not conform to the CONSORT guidelines may need
`to be revised before formal review.
`
`Authors reporting prognostic studies with tumor markers are encouraged to follow the
`REMARK guidelines for complete and transparent reporting.
`
`Prospective clinical trials must be registered before the start of patient enrollment in
`www.clinicaltrials.gov or a similar public repository that matches the criteria established by
`ICMJE. Suitable publicly available registries are those listed on the ICMJE website as well as
`any of the primary registries that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry
`Platform, including the ISRCTN registry, which is administered and published by BMC (BMC is
`part of Springer Nature). The trial registration number must be reported in the paper. Trials in
`which the primary goal is to determine pharmacokinetics are exempt.
`
`For describing human biospecimens, we recommend referring to the BRISQ reporting
`guidelines (Biospecimen Reporting for Improved Study Quality) and ensuring at least Tier 1
`characteristics are provided (doi: 10.1002/cncy.20147).
`
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`Nature Portfolio journals' editorials
`Reporting requirements and reproducibility
`Nature authors say a reproducibility checklist is a step in the right direction, but more
`needs to be done. Nature. Checklists work to improve science, April 2018.
`Nature and the Nature Portfolio journals will publish more details on experiments
`described in life-sciences papers. Nature. Announcement: Towards greater
`reproducibility for life-sciences research in Nature, June 2017.
`Nature Editorial describing the initiatives taken on by Nature to improve research
`transparency: Transparency upgrade for Nature journals, March 2017
`
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`Nature Special: Challenges in irreproducible research (updated November 2014) -
`collection of articles from Nature Portfolio journals addressing various aspects of
`irreproducibility.
`All Nature Portfolio journals publishing life sciences introduce measures to improve
`reporting standards. Nature. Announcement: Reducing our irreproducibility, April 2013.
`New rules for presentation of statistics. Nature Cell Biology. Reproducible methods and
`How robust are your data? June 2009.
`Nature Methods ushers in an Online Methods section, fully integrated with the paper, for
`all original research articles. Nature Methods. Methods section remake, May 2009.
`From now on, Nature Portfolio authors will be able to include more experimental details
`in their papers. Nature. Methods in full, February 2007.
`
`Availability of data
`Nature backs the Enabling FAIR Data initiative and requires authors to deposit data in
`community repositories. Announcement: FAIR data in Earth science.
`As the research community embraces data sharing, academic journals can do their bit to
`help. Starting this month, all research papers accepted for publication in Nature and an
`initial 12 other Nature Portfolio titles will be required to include information on whether
`and how others can access the underlying data. Nature Announcement: where are the
`data? September 2016.
`In our continued drive for reproducibility, Nature and the Nature Portfolio journals are
`strengthening our editorial links with the journal Scientific Data and enhancing our data-
`availability practices. Nature. Data-access practices strengthened, November 2014.
`Datasets can now be published, shared — and cited — in Scientific Data. Nature Physics.
`It’s good to share, July 2014.
`Data must be accessible to support the conclusions of scientific publications and for the
`research to have impact. Nature Genetics. It’s not about the data, February 2012.
`A recent report highlights the urgent issues regarding the preservation of large datasets.
`Nature Neuroscience. Ensuring data integrity, October 2009.
`Reference datasets should be accessible independently of scientific papers in a citable
`form, allowing attribution. Nature Cell Biology. Sharing data, November 2009.
`Datasets released to public databases in advance of (or with) research publications
`should be given digital object identifiers. Nature Genetics. Data producers deserve
`citation credit, October 2009.
`The scientific community needs to develop better incentives to encourage compliance
`and reward those who share. Nature Neuroscience. Got data? August 2007.
`Procedures for microattribution need to be established by journals and databases.
`Nature Genetics. Compete, collaborate, compel, August 2007.
`Online publishing should have made ‘data not shown’ largely a thing of the past. Nature
`Cell Biology. Nothing to hide (data not shown), June 2006.
`
`Discipline-specific data sets
`Data from genome-wide association studies should be reported and deposited, even if
`the data does not reach genome-wide levels of significance. Nature Genetics. Asking for
`more, June 2012.
`Human exome sequencing data should ideally be archived in appropriate repositories
`before submission and authors must explain their data management plan before peer
`review. Nature Genetics. Capture and release, September 2011.
`Reference datasets should be accessible independently of scientific papers in a citable
`form, allowing attribution. Nature Cell Biology. Sharing data, November 2009.
`Proposes a universal tagging system that connects databases with authors. Nature
`Biotechnology. Credit where credit is overdue, July 2009.
`
`Page 9 of 12
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`
`
`Genetically modified mouse strains must be made available. Nature. The sharing
`principle, June 2009.
`Deposition of proteomics data. Nature Methods. Thou shalt share your data, March 2008.
`Describing the Nature Portfolio journals' Creative Commons license for genome
`sequences. Nature. Shared genomes, December 2007.
`Scientists coin new terms, or neologisms, at a tremendous pace, but name choice can
`have unforeseen results. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. Name that gene! August
`2007.
`Raw proteomics and molecular interaction data should be deposited in repositories at
`submission Democratizing proteomics data (March 2007), and researchers should
`embrace minimum information reporting guidelines. Time for leadership (August 2007).
`Nature Biotechnology.
`The tools for genome-wide association studies are now available. Here we present the
`journal's current criteria for manuscripts in this area of research. Nature Genetics.
`Framework for a fully powered risk engine, November 2005.
`Biological research must provide the data necessary for replication. Nature Medicine.
`Structural Integrity, February 2005.
`How to discuss ancestry and ethnicity. Nature Genetics. The unexamined 'Caucasian',
`June 2004.
`Clarifying the Nature Portfolio journals' policy on data deposition for chemical
`structures. Nature. Crystal Clear, June 2005.
`Required controls for studies involving RNAi. Nature Cell Biology. Whither RNAi? June
`2003.
`Controls for studies involving microarrays. Nature Immunology. Microarray policy,
`February 2003.
`Data requirements for studies involving microarrays. Nature Cell Biology. Microarray
`data standards, November 2002.
`The microarray community has issued guidelines that will make their data much more
`useful and accessible. Nature. Microarray standards at last, September 2002.
`Any paper containing new structural data will not be accepted without an accession
`number from the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. Nature. New policy for structural data,
`July 1998.
`Statements by presidents of countries and societies highlight the concern that human
`genome data be publicly accessible, and quickly. Nature. Rules of genome access, March
`1990.
`
`Availability of materials
`There must be no restrictions on the redistribution of patient-derived cell lines or other
`tissue. Nature. Common consent, 20 August 2009.
`Nature Chemical Biology is committed to enhancing interdisciplinary communication
`and features online content to increase the accessibility of chemical information for our
`readers. Nature Chemical Biology. A new look for chemical information, June 2007.
`Note to biologists: submissions to Nature Portfolio should contain complete
`descriptions of materials and reagents used. Nature. Illuminating the black box, 16 July
`2006.
`Pragmatically adapting our sharing-of-materials policy. Nature Cell Biology. Sharing
`science, May 2006.
`There is a great need for community standards for sharing data, materials and
`information between chemists and biologists. Nature Chemical Biology. Molecular cross-
`fertilization, February 2006.
`
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`On sharing materials to foster reproducible research. Nature Cell Biology. Policy update,
`March 2005.
`On sharing materials to foster reproducible research. Nature Genetics. 'Good citizenship'
`or good business?, October 2004.
`
`Resources on cell line identity
`To help curb the inadvertent use of cross-contaminated or otherwise misidentified cell lines,
`authors are asked to check their reagents against the list of known misidentified cell lines
`maintained by the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) and also
`accessible through the NCBI BioSample database. If using a cell line that is on this list,
`authors should provide a scientific justification and state the identity issue in the Methods
`section. Editors reserve the right to demand that the data be removed from the paper if the
`justification is deemed unsatisfactory. In addition, authors must identify the source of cell
`lines (with catalog number if obtained from vendor or cell bank) and report whether the cell
`lines have been authenticated. They should include the method used, the results and when
`authentication testing was last performed for that cell line. Authentication test results must
`be provided upon request. Mycoplasma contamination testing status must also be reported.
`As of May 2015, these requirements are particularly emphasized for cancer research where