Guidelines for Data and Code Quality Control
I’m happy to have contributed to The SORTEE Guidelines for Data and Code Quality Control in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a community effort to make data and code checks clearer, more consistent, and more transparent across journals in ecology and evolution.
The guidelines
These guidelines offer the first standardized framework for Data and Code Quality Control led by SORTEE members and data editors across journals in ecology and evolution. The article introduces what data editors do, why quality control matters and provides a transparent, step-by-step process for checking archived data and code alongside manuscripts. Aimed at journal editors, reviewers, and authors, it outlines expected benefits and costs and gives practical advice for adoption. As a complement to peer review, it helps ensure that shared data and code adhere to the FAIR principles—Findable · Accessible · Interoperable · Reusable—at publication.
SORTEE in a nutshell
SORTEE—the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—is an international, volunteer-driven community working to improve research reliability and transparency through cultural and institutional change. Activities include producing open-science resources (e.g., the above-mentioned guidelines), hosting webinars and annual unconferences/hackathons, and running the field-specific preprint server EcoEvoRxiv.
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Check the SORTEE website for news, events, and ways to get involved. You can also follow announcements on social media and in the newsletter.