Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature

Mark Ziemann; Yotam Eren; Assam El-Osta

doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1044-7

Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature

Genome Biol. 2016 Aug 23;17(1):177. doi: 10.1186/s13059-016-1044-7.

Authors

Mark Ziemann¹, Yotam Eren^{1

2}, Assam El-Osta^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia.
² Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.
³ Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, The Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia. Assam.El-Osta@bakeridi.edu.au.
⁴ Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia. Assam.El-Osta@bakeridi.edu.au.

Abstract

The spreadsheet software Microsoft Excel, when used with default settings, is known to convert gene names to dates and floating-point numbers. A programmatic scan of leading genomics journals reveals that approximately one-fifth of papers with supplementary Excel gene lists contain erroneous gene name conversions.

Keywords: Gene symbol; Microsoft Excel; Supplementary data.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Genes*
Humans
Publications*
Software*
Terminology as Topic