Reporting & Reproducibility (est-reporting-and-reproducibility)
ES&T strongly encourages public data and expects authors to make materials, data, and protocols
available through public databases, with a data-availability statement and a Supporting
Information file submitted alongside the manuscript and reviewed with it. Build these as you go, not
the night before submission.
When to trigger
- Assembling the Supporting Information (SI) PDF/files
- Writing the data-availability statement and choosing repositories
- Depositing data, spectra, sequences, code, and protocols
- Making sure every figure/table can be regenerated from deposited data
What ES&T expects
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Supporting Information. Submitted simultaneously as separate file(s); describe contents and
file type in the SI paragraph (e.g., "Additional analytical methods, calibration data, and NMR
spectra (PDF)"). Available to reviewers; free to readers on publication.
-
Data-availability statement. State where the data live and how to access them; cite
accession codes / DOIs.
-
Public deposition by data type (see
resources/external_tools.md):
- Sequences → GenBank / ENA / DDBJ; omics/microarray → GEO / ArrayExpress;
proteomics → PRIDE / ProteomeXchange; mass spectra → MassIVE / MetaboLights / MassBank.
- General data/code → Dryad, figshare, Zenodo, OSF.
-
Methods reproducibility. Report instrument settings, reagents/standards, QA/QC, and analysis
steps in enough detail to reproduce; deposit analysis code with seeds and pinned versions.
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Restricted data. If data cannot be fully shared (privacy/legal), explain why and give README
instructions on how to obtain it; provide what can be shared.
SI assembly checklist
Deposition routing: data type → repository
ES&T expects deposition in the community-standard repository for each data type, not a generic
catch-all. Reviewers in a sub-field know the canonical home and notice when data are not there
(confirm any volatile mandate against the journal's current author guidelines — 待核实):
| Data type |
Expected repository |
Reviewer's note if missing |
| DNA/RNA sequences |
GenBank / ENA / DDBJ |
not independently checkable |
| Omics / microarray |
GEO / ArrayExpress |
non-standard, hard to reuse |
| Proteomics |
PRIDE / ProteomeXchange |
unverifiable identifications |
| Mass spectra / metabolomics |
MassIVE / MetaboLights / MassBank |
spectra not reusable |
| General data / code |
Dryad, figshare, Zenodo, OSF |
"available on request" red flag |
Worked micro-example (illustrative — SI for a PFAS fate study)
For the river-PFAS study, a reviewer-ready Associated Content package (illustrative) contains:
-
SI PDF: extended LC-MS/MS methods, transition list and collision energies, the QA/QC table
(field blanks, 92% recovery, per-analyte LOQ), calibration curves (R² > 0.99, illustrative), and
the ROS censoring detail — each item S-numbered and referenced in order from the main text.
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Deposited: raw and processed concentration tables plus the analysis code (with the random seed
for the bootstrap CI and pinned package versions) on Zenodo with a DOI; the mass spectra on MassIVE.
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Data-availability statement: "Concentration data and analysis code are available at Zenodo
(DOI: 10.xxxx/illustrative); raw mass spectra are deposited at MassIVE (accession: illustrative)."
The test that catches drift: re-run the deposited master script on a clean machine — every figure and
the 2.4 ng/L headline number must regenerate exactly. If they do not, the SI and manuscript have
diverged.
Referee-pushback patterns and the venue-specific fix
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"Data available on request is not sufficient." → Deposit in the type-appropriate repository and
cite the accession/DOI in the statement.
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"Methods not reproducible." → Move instrument settings, standards, and QA/QC into the SI in
enough detail to repeat the work; deposit code with seeds and versions.
-
"SI contents not described." → Write the SI paragraph naming each file and its type.
Anti-patterns
- "Data available on request" with no statement, repository, or accession
- An SI that is a dumping ground with no described contents or ordering
- Spectra/sequences/omics not deposited in the expected community database
- Code that does not run, or that cannot regenerate the manuscript's exhibits
- Leaving SI + deposition to submission day, so numbers drift from the manuscript
Output format
【SI contents】described + ordered (S-numbered)? [Y/N]
【Data-availability statement】present with accession/DOI? [Y/N]
【Deposition】data type → repository (GenBank/GEO/PRIDE/MassIVE/Dryad/Zenodo/OSF)
【Code】deposited, seeds + pinned versions, regenerates exhibits? [Y/N]
【Restricted data】justified + README to obtain? [N/A or Y/N]
【Next】est-writing-style
Supplementary resources