idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The project PixelQuality, recipient of the 2024 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research, has—together with the international consortium QUAREP-LiMi (Quality Assessment and Reproducibility for Instruments and Images in Light Microscopy)—played a key role in the introduction of new reporting standards for light and fluorescence microscopy data in four prestigious Nature Portfolio journals. The aim is to strengthen the transparency, reproducibility, and reusability of image data in biomedical research.
As part of a one-year pilot project running until June 2026, authors submitting a revision to Nature Communications, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Methods, or Nature Structural & Molecular Biology will be asked to provide key information on the setup, execution, and analysis of microscopy experiments—details which, as for example Nature Cell Biology pointed out, have often been inadequately documented in the past.
“Accurate and complete documentation of image data is essential,” emphasizes Helena Jambor, one of the initiators of PixelQuality. She highlights the need for such standards, noting that many images are published without scale bars. “Many think the scale bar is just a decorative element, but it’s actually indispensable because biological dimensions vary significantly.”
The additional metadata—such as information about the hardware used, methodologies, and image processing—will be published as Supplementary Information and thus accessible to both readers and reviewers. In addition, the participating journals recommend that image data be deposited in open repositories—an approach already well-established in fields like genomics and proteomics.
Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature, emphasizes: “PixelQuality is a compelling example of how valuable reporting standards can emerge from within the scientific community and be supported and amplified by publishers; such standards have the potential to sustainably improve transparency and integrity of published research.”
“We established the Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research to support initiatives that fundamentally enhance the quality and transparency of research. PixelQuality is an outstanding example of this. We are delighted to support this important work,” says Ulrich Dirnagl, Award Secretary of the Einstein Foundation Award.
Background
For its international efforts to improve the reproducibility of image data in biomedical research, PixelQuality received the 2024 Early Career Award of the Einstein Foundation Award, endowed with €100,000. The project develops practical guidelines and checklists for the publication of scientific images—also with a view to future challenges posed by AI-assisted image processing. The initiative is led by Christopher Schmied (Leibniz FMP Berlin) and Helena Jambor (University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons, Switzerland).
The Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research has been awarded since 2021 in three categories and is considered one of the most prestigious international awards for research quality. In addition to the Early Career Award, there is an Individual Award (€150,000) and an Institutional Award (€100,000), funded by the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft and the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research at Charité, and additionally supported financially by the State of Berlin. Numerous international partners support the award initiative, including Nature Portfolio, PLOS, the Max Planck Society, the Max Planck Foundation, the Berlin University Alliance, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Ulrike Pannasch
Coordinator Einstein Foundation Award
up@einsteinfoundation.de
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-025-01704-y
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Biology, Environment / ecology
transregional, national
Cooperation agreements, Research projects
English
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