Guidance for the Compilation, Critical Evaluation and Dissemination of Chemical Data
Critical evaluation of chemical data has long been an important activity within IUPAC. Thus the current “Guidelines for IUPAC Projects” states: “The core activity of IUPAC is to provide critical evaluations of methods and data and to make recommendations for nomenclature, terminology, metrology, and measurement standards.” Members of the Analytical Chemistry Division’s Subcommittee on Solubility and Equilibrium Data, wanting to learn more about activities related to critical evaluation in other divisions and committees, organized an ad hoc interdivisional discussion on critical evaluation during the 2017 General Assembly (project 2016-043-1-500). This half-day meeting was attended by interested individuals from the Inorganic Chemistry Division (Div II), the Polymer Division (IV), the Analytical Chemistry Division (V), and the Committee on Publications and Cheminformatics Data Standards (CPCDS). From this meeting and subsequent conversations (which have included the Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division (I) and the Chemistry and the Environment Division (VI) as well as those listed above) two ideas emerged: that the exchange of information and experience among groups and individuals in IUPAC concerned with critical evaluation should continue, and that an important first project would be to develop guidance or best practices for critical evaluation of chemical data. This project addresses that second idea.
Currently active critical evaluation projects within IUPAC are highly varied treating both equilibrium and kinetic data; properties measured with either high and low relative uncertainty; and outputs ranging from monographs to databases. Given this range in the data sets evaluated and the rapidly evolving needs for cheminformatic documentation, guidance is needed to focus on best practices and provide flexibility while at the same time embodying high scientific standards. The Task Group that has been assembled for this project reflects the breadth of IUPAC’s experience in critical evaluation.
The Task Group will consider the three aspects of the critical evaluation process—compilation, evaluation, and dissemination—and develop best practice recommendations for each. Because of the wide variation in the data types that are evaluated, detailed protocols for the work are not considered appropriate. Rather the guidance will consider the qualities that are inherent in a good evaluation (completeness, clarity, traceability, etc.) and how those qualities can be achieved.
For more information and comments, contact Task Group Chair David Shaw <shaw02110@gmail.com>.
https://iupac.org/project/2018-009-2-500

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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead - Full issue pdf
- Introduction
- The International Year of the Periodic Table 2019
- Features
- IUPAC and the Periodic Table
- Criteria for New Element Discovery: Providing Assurance in a Field of Allure and Romance
- Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Development of the Periodic Table
- Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights: History of IUPAC Commission II.1 in the Service of Chemistry
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