Standards in semen examination: publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

doi:10.1093/humrep/deac189

. 2022 Oct 31;37(11):2497-2502.

doi: 10.1093/humrep/deac189.

Standards in semen examination: publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

Lars Björndahl¹, Christopher L R Barratt², David Mortimer³, Ashok Agarwal⁴, Robert J Aitken⁵, Juan G Alvarez^{6

7}, Natalie Aneck-Hahn⁸, Stefan Arver¹, Elisabetta Baldi⁹, Lluís Bassas¹⁰, Florence Boitrelle^{11

12}, Riana Bornman¹³, Douglas T Carrell^{14

15}, José A Castilla^{16

17}, Gerardo Cerezo Parra¹⁸, Jerome H Check^{19

20}, Patricia S Cuasnicu²¹, Sally Perreault Darney^{22

23}, Christiaan de Jager²⁴, Christopher J De Jonge²⁵, Joël R Drevet²⁶, Erma Z Drobnis²⁷, Stefan S Du Plessis²⁸, Michael L Eisenberg^{29

30}, Sandro C Esteves^{31

32

33}, Evangelini A Evgeni^{34

35}, Alberto Ferlin³⁶, Nicolas Garrido³⁷, Aleksander Giwercman³⁸, Ilse G F Goovaerts³⁹, Trine B Haugen⁴⁰, Ralf Henkel^{41

42}, Lars Henningsohn^{43

44}, Marie-Claude Hofmann⁴⁵, James M Hotaling⁴⁶, Piotr Jedrzejczak⁴⁷, Pierre Jouannet⁴⁸, Niels Jørgensen^{49

50}, Jackson C Kirkman Brown^{51

52

53}, Csilla Krausz⁵⁴, Maciej Kurpisz⁵⁵, Ulrik Kvist¹, Dolores J Lamb⁵⁶, Hagai Levine⁵⁷, Kate L Loveland⁵⁸, Robert I McLachlan⁵⁹, Ali Mahran^{60

61}, Liana Maree⁴², Sarah Martins da Silva², Michael T Mbizvo⁶², Andreas Meinhardt⁶³, Roelof Menkveld⁶⁴, Sharon T Mortimer^{3

65}, Sergey Moskovtsev^{66

67}, Charles H Muller⁶⁸, Maria José Munuce⁶⁹, Monica Muratori⁵⁴, Craig Niederberger^{70

71}, Cristian O'Flaherty⁷², Rafael Oliva^{73

74}, Willem Ombelet^{75

76}, Allan A Pacey^{77

78}, Michael A Palladino⁷⁹, Ranjith Ramasamy⁸⁰, Liliana Ramos⁸¹, Nathalie Rives⁸², Eduardo Rs Roldan⁸³, Susan Rothmann⁸⁴, Denny Sakkas⁸⁵, Andrea Salonia^{86

87}, Maria Cristina Sánchez-Pozo⁸⁸, Rosanna Sapiro⁸⁹, Stefan Schlatt⁹⁰, Peter N Schlegel⁹¹, Hans-Christian Schuppe⁹², Rupin Shah⁹³, Niels E Skakkebæk⁴⁹, Katja Teerds⁹⁴, Igor Toskin⁹⁵, Herman Tournaye⁹⁶, Paul J Turek⁹⁷, Gerhard van der Horst^{98

99

100}, Monica Vazquez-Levin¹⁰¹, Christina Wang^{102

103}, Alex Wetzels¹⁰⁴, Theodosia Zeginiadou^{105

106}, Armand Zini¹⁰⁷

Affiliations

¹ ANOVA, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Reproductive Medicine Research Group, Division of Systems Medicine, School of Medicine, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³ Oozoa Biomedical Inc., West Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Case Western Reserve University, Moreland Hills, OH, USA.
⁵ Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health & Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Centro Androgen, La Coruña, Spain.
⁷ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Urology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italia.
¹⁰ Andrology Department, Laboratory of Andrology and Sperm Bank, Fundació Puigvert, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Reproductive Biology, Fertility Preservation, Andrology, CECOS, Poissy Hospital, Poissy, France.
¹² Paris Saclay University, UVSQ, INRAE, BREED, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
¹³ School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
¹⁴ Andrology and IVF Laboratory, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁶ GAMETIA Biobank, Granada, Spain.
¹⁷ Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves and Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs. GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
¹⁸ LAFER Sperm Bank, Tuxpan 10-606, Roma Sur, C.P. 06760, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹⁹ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, USA.
²⁰ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Melrose Park, PA, USA.
²¹ Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IbyME-CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²² US EPA, Cary, NC, USA.
²³ US NIH, Cary, NC, USA.
²⁴ Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
²⁵ University of Minnesota Medical Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
²⁶ Université Clermont Auvergne/CNRS/INSERM-GreD Institute, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
²⁷ School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MI, USA.
²⁸ College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
²⁹ Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
³¹ ANDROFERT, Andrology and Human Reproduction Clinic, Campinas, Brazil.
³² Department of Surgery (Division of Urology), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil.
³³ Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³⁴ CRYOGONIA Cryopreservation Bank, Athens, Greece.
³⁵ Laboratory of Physiology, Department of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.
³⁶ Unit of Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italia.
³⁷ IVI Foundation, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
³⁸ Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
³⁹ Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Department of Life Sciences and Health, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
⁴¹ Department of Metabolism, Digestion & Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁴² Department of Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
⁴³ Division of Urology, Department of CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴⁴ Department of Urology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴⁵ Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴⁶ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Cell Biology, Poznan University of Medical Science, Poznan, Poland.
⁴⁸ Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
⁴⁹ Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵⁰ International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵¹ Centre for Human Reproductive Science (ChRS), UK.
⁵² College of Medical & Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
⁵³ Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
⁵⁴ Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Sciences "Mario Serio", University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
⁵⁵ Department of Reproductive Biology and Stem Cells, Institutet of Human Genetics, Poznan, Poland.
⁵⁶ Brady Department of Urology, Center for Reproductive Genomics and Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
⁵⁷ Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center, The Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
⁵⁸ Hudson Institute, Centre for Reproductive Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁵⁹ Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁶⁰ Dermatology and Andrology Department, Assiut University Hospital, Assiut, Egypt.
⁶¹ Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
⁶² Country Director, Population Council (International Programs).
⁶³ Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁶⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa.
⁶⁵ Division of REI, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁶⁶ Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶⁷ CreATe Fertility Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶⁸ Male Fertility Laboratory, Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁶⁹ Laboratorio de Medicina Reproductiva, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina.
⁷⁰ Department of Urology, UIC College of Medicine, IL, USA.
⁷¹ Department of Bioengineering, UIC College of Engineering, IL, USA.
⁷² Department of Surgery (Urology Division), McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁷³ Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development Group, Biomedical Research Institute August Pi I Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁷⁴ Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁷⁵ Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Genk, Belgium.
⁷⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, ZOL Hospitals and Hasselt University, Genk, Belgium.
⁷⁷ Department of Oncology and Metabolism, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷⁸ Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷⁹ Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, NJ, USA.
⁸⁰ Department of Urology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
⁸¹ Division of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecologie, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁸² Service Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction-CECOS, Equipe Physiopathologie Surrénalienne et Gonadique, Unité Inserm 1239 NorDic, CHU-Hôpitaux de Rouen, UFR Santé-Université de Rouen, Rouen, France.
⁸³ Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
⁸⁴ Fertility Solutions Inc., Warrensville Heights, OH, USA.
⁸⁵ Boston IVF, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸⁶ University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
⁸⁷ Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, URI, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
⁸⁸ Department of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, Seville, Spain.
⁸⁹ Depto de Histologia y Embriología, Facultad de Medicina, Gral. Flores, Uruguay.
⁹⁰ Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, Münster, Germany.
⁹¹ Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁹² Section of Andrology, Department of Urology, Pediatric Urology & Andrology, Justus-Liebig-University/University Hospital of Giessen-Marburg, Giessen, Germany.
⁹³ Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai, India.
⁹⁴ Human and Animal Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁹⁵ WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (includes the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction-HRP), Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹⁶ Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
⁹⁷ The Turek Clinic, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁹⁸ Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
⁹⁹ Physiology Medical School, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
¹⁰⁰ Department of Animal Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
¹⁰¹ IBYME, CONICET-FIBYME, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰² Clinical and Translational Science Institute, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, CA, USA.
¹⁰³ Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA.
¹⁰⁴ Fertility Laboratory, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰⁵ Thessaloniki Andrology Laboratory-Hellenic Sperm Bank, Thessaloniki, Greece.
¹⁰⁶ Laboratory of Histology-Embryology, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
¹⁰⁷ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, St Mary's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

PMID: 36112046
PMCID: PMC9627864
DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deac189

Standards in semen examination: publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

Lars Björndahl et al. Hum Reprod. 2022.

. 2022 Oct 31;37(11):2497-2502.

doi: 10.1093/humrep/deac189.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ ANOVA, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Reproductive Medicine Research Group, Division of Systems Medicine, School of Medicine, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
³ Oozoa Biomedical Inc., West Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Case Western Reserve University, Moreland Hills, OH, USA.
⁵ Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health & Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Centro Androgen, La Coruña, Spain.
⁷ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Department of Urology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italia.
¹⁰ Andrology Department, Laboratory of Andrology and Sperm Bank, Fundació Puigvert, Barcelona, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Reproductive Biology, Fertility Preservation, Andrology, CECOS, Poissy Hospital, Poissy, France.
¹² Paris Saclay University, UVSQ, INRAE, BREED, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
¹³ School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
¹⁴ Andrology and IVF Laboratory, Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁶ GAMETIA Biobank, Granada, Spain.
¹⁷ Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves and Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs. GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
¹⁸ LAFER Sperm Bank, Tuxpan 10-606, Roma Sur, C.P. 06760, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹⁹ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, USA.
²⁰ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Melrose Park, PA, USA.
²¹ Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IbyME-CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²² US EPA, Cary, NC, USA.
²³ US NIH, Cary, NC, USA.
²⁴ Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
²⁵ University of Minnesota Medical Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
²⁶ Université Clermont Auvergne/CNRS/INSERM-GreD Institute, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
²⁷ School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MI, USA.
²⁸ College of Medicine, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
²⁹ Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
³¹ ANDROFERT, Andrology and Human Reproduction Clinic, Campinas, Brazil.
³² Department of Surgery (Division of Urology), University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil.
³³ Faculty of Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³⁴ CRYOGONIA Cryopreservation Bank, Athens, Greece.
³⁵ Laboratory of Physiology, Department of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.
³⁶ Unit of Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italia.
³⁷ IVI Foundation, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
³⁸ Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
³⁹ Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Department of Life Sciences and Health, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
⁴¹ Department of Metabolism, Digestion & Reproduction, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁴² Department of Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
⁴³ Division of Urology, Department of CLINTEC, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴⁴ Department of Urology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴⁵ Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴⁶ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Cell Biology, Poznan University of Medical Science, Poznan, Poland.
⁴⁸ Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
⁴⁹ Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵⁰ International Center for Research and Research Training in Endocrine Disruption of Male Reproduction and Child Health (EDMaRC), Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵¹ Centre for Human Reproductive Science (ChRS), UK.
⁵² College of Medical & Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK.
⁵³ Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
⁵⁴ Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Sciences "Mario Serio", University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
⁵⁵ Department of Reproductive Biology and Stem Cells, Institutet of Human Genetics, Poznan, Poland.
⁵⁶ Brady Department of Urology, Center for Reproductive Genomics and Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
⁵⁷ Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center, The Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
⁵⁸ Hudson Institute, Centre for Reproductive Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁵⁹ Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Centre for Endocrinology and Metabolism, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁶⁰ Dermatology and Andrology Department, Assiut University Hospital, Assiut, Egypt.
⁶¹ Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
⁶² Country Director, Population Council (International Programs).
⁶³ Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁶⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa.
⁶⁵ Division of REI, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁶⁶ Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶⁷ CreATe Fertility Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶⁸ Male Fertility Laboratory, Department of Urology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁶⁹ Laboratorio de Medicina Reproductiva, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina.
⁷⁰ Department of Urology, UIC College of Medicine, IL, USA.
⁷¹ Department of Bioengineering, UIC College of Engineering, IL, USA.
⁷² Department of Surgery (Urology Division), McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁷³ Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development Group, Biomedical Research Institute August Pi I Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁷⁴ Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁷⁵ Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Genk, Belgium.
⁷⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, ZOL Hospitals and Hasselt University, Genk, Belgium.
⁷⁷ Department of Oncology and Metabolism, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷⁸ Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷⁹ Bloomfield College, Bloomfield, NJ, USA.
⁸⁰ Department of Urology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
⁸¹ Division of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecologie, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁸² Service Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction-CECOS, Equipe Physiopathologie Surrénalienne et Gonadique, Unité Inserm 1239 NorDic, CHU-Hôpitaux de Rouen, UFR Santé-Université de Rouen, Rouen, France.
⁸³ Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
⁸⁴ Fertility Solutions Inc., Warrensville Heights, OH, USA.
⁸⁵ Boston IVF, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸⁶ University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
⁸⁷ Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, URI, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
⁸⁸ Department of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, Seville, Spain.
⁸⁹ Depto de Histologia y Embriología, Facultad de Medicina, Gral. Flores, Uruguay.
⁹⁰ Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, Münster, Germany.
⁹¹ Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁹² Section of Andrology, Department of Urology, Pediatric Urology & Andrology, Justus-Liebig-University/University Hospital of Giessen-Marburg, Giessen, Germany.
⁹³ Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai, India.
⁹⁴ Human and Animal Physiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁹⁵ WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (includes the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction-HRP), Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹⁶ Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
⁹⁷ The Turek Clinic, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁹⁸ Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
⁹⁹ Physiology Medical School, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
¹⁰⁰ Department of Animal Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
¹⁰¹ IBYME, CONICET-FIBYME, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰² Clinical and Translational Science Institute, The Lundquist Institute, Torrance, CA, USA.
¹⁰³ Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA.
¹⁰⁴ Fertility Laboratory, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰⁵ Thessaloniki Andrology Laboratory-Hellenic Sperm Bank, Thessaloniki, Greece.
¹⁰⁶ Laboratory of Histology-Embryology, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
¹⁰⁷ Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, St Mary's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

PMID: 36112046
PMCID: PMC9627864
DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deac189

Abstract

Biomedical science is rapidly developing in terms of more transparency, openness and reproducibility of scientific publications. This is even more important for all studies that are based on results from basic semen examination. Recently two concordant documents have been published: the 6th edition of the WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen, and the International Standard ISO 23162:2021. With these tools, we propose that authors should be instructed to follow these laboratory methods in order to publish studies in peer-reviewed journals, preferable by using a checklist as suggested in an Appendix to this article.

Keywords: andrology; basic semen examination; journal requirements; laboratory training; patient security; quality control; reproducibility; reproductive medicine; science development; standardized laboratory procedures.

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References

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[1] Amara SG. Empower with evidence. Science 2022;375:699. - PubMed

[2] Amara SG. Empower with evidence. Science 2022;375:699. - PubMed

[3] Barratt CL, Björndahl L, Menkveld R, Mortimer D.. ESHRE special interest group for andrology basic semen analysis course: a continued focus on accuracy, quality, efficiency and clinical relevance. Hum Reprod 2011;26:3207–3212. - PubMed

[4] Barratt CL, Björndahl L, Menkveld R, Mortimer D.. ESHRE special interest group for andrology basic semen analysis course: a continued focus on accuracy, quality, efficiency and clinical relevance. Hum Reprod 2011;26:3207–3212. - PubMed

[5] Begley CG, Ellis LM.. Drug development: raise standards for preclinical cancer research. Nature 2012;483:531–533. - PubMed

[6] Begley CG, Ellis LM.. Drug development: raise standards for preclinical cancer research. Nature 2012;483:531–533. - PubMed

[7] Björndahl L, Barratt CL, Fraser LR, Kvist U, Mortimer D.. ESHRE basic semen analysis courses 1995–1999: immediate beneficial effects of standardized training. Hum Reprod 2002;17:1299–1305. - PubMed

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Standards in semen examination: publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

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Standards in semen examination: publishing reproducible and reliable data based on high-quality methodology

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