ArticleScience and engineering ethics2010
Avoiding twisted pixels: ethical guidelines for the appropriate use and manipulation of scientific digital images.
Article in Science and engineering ethics, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Big Data and Digitalization in Dentistry: A Systematic Review of the Ethical Issues.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Research misconduct in health and life sciences research: A systematic review of retracted literature from Brazilian institutions.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
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- Reflect: reporting guidelines for preclinical, translational and clinical fluorescence molecular imaging studies.Npj imaging · 2025Article
- LoQANT: An ImageJ Plugin for Quantifying Nuclear Staining in Immunohistochemistry and Immunofluorescence.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- DTPA disrupts development of preantral ovarian follicles in vitro.Reproduction & fertility · 2025Article
- Induction of proline-rich proteins in response to tannin treatment in Caenorhabditis elegans.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Best practices in plant fluorescence imaging and reporting: A primer.The Plant cell · 2025Review
- AxoDen: An Algorithm for the Automated Quantification of Axonal Density in Defined Brain Regions.eNeuro · 2025Article
- Generative artificial intelligence tools in journal article preparation: A preliminary catalog of ethical considerations, opportunities, and pitfalls.JDS communications · 2025Article
- Curcuminoid-Based Responsive Surfaces for Fluorescent BFACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Article
- Novel peptidomimetic compounds attenuate hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in neonatal rats.Experimental neurology · 2025Article
- From morphology to single-cell molecules: high-resolution 3D histology in biomedicine.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Community-developed checklists for publishing images and image analyses.Nature methods · 2024Review
- Article
- Dynamic modulation of matrix adhesiveness induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer cells in 3D.Biomaterials · 2023Article
- A biologist's guide to planning and performing quantitative bioimaging experiments.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- The science behind soft skills: Do's and Don'ts for early career researchers and beyond. A review paper from the EU-CardioRNA COST Action CA17129.Open research Europe · 2023Article
- Advancements in high-resolution 3D microscopy analysis of endosomal morphology in postmortem Alzheimer's disease brains.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Funding
Abstract
Digital imaging has provided scientists with new opportunities to acquire and manipulate data using techniques that were difficult or impossible to employ in the past. Because digital images are easier to manipulate than film images, new problems have emerged. One growing concern in the scientific community is that digital images are not being handled with sufficient care. The problem is twofold: (1) the very small, yet troubling, number of intentional falsifications that have been identified, and (2) the more common unintentional, inappropriate manipulation of images for publication. Journals and professional societies have begun to address the issue with specific digital imaging guidelines. Unfortunately, the guidelines provided often do not come with instructions to explain their importance. Thus they deal with what should or should not be done, but not the associated 'why' that is required for understanding the rules. This article proposes 12 guidelines for scientific digital image manipulation and discusses the technical reasons behind these guidelines. These guidelines can be incorporated into lab meetings and graduate student training in order to provoke discussion and begin to bring an end to the culture of "data beautification".
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.