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

Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature

Mark Ziemann  1 , Yotam Eren  1   2 , Assam El-Osta  3   4
Affiliations

Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature

Mark Ziemann et al. Genome Biol. .

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.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of gene name errors in supplementary Excel files. a Percentage of published papers with supplementary gene lists in Excel files affected by gene name errors. b Increase in gene name errors by year
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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