Guidance for methods descriptions used in preclinical imaging papers.
Preclinical molecular imaging is a rapidly growing field, where new imaging systems, methods, and biological findings are constantly being developed or discovered. Imaging systems and the associated software usually have multiple options for generating data, which is often overlooked but is essential when reporting the methods used to create and analyze data. Similarly, the ways in which animals are housed, handled, and treated to create physiologically based data must be well described in order that the findings be relevant, useful, and reproducible. There are frequently new developments for metabolic imaging methods. Thus, specific reporting requirements are difficult to establish; however, it remains essential to adequately report how the data have been collected, processed, and analyzed. To assist with future manuscript submissions, this article aims to provide guidelines of what details to report for several of the most common imaging modalities. Examples are provided in an attempt to give comprehensive, succinct descriptions of the essential items to report about the experimental process.
David
D
Stout
Stuart S
SS
Berr
Amy
A
LeBlanc
Joseph D
JD
Kalen
Dustin
D
Osborne
Julie
J
Price
Wynne
W
Schiffer
Claudia
C
Kuntner
Jonathan
J
Wall
D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D011643:Publishing; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D051381:Rats; D012107:Research Design; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography