A guiding principle of Genetics, the peer-edited journal of the Genetics Society of America, is to make geneticists' work accessible and available to the community, with the goal of recording scientific progress and catalyzing further advances. Complete understanding and application of scientific results requires a clear and unrestricted access to the materials and methods used to determine those results. It is a long-standing policy of this journal that authors will make available materials used in their published studies. We are expanding that mandate by asking authors to deposit, whenever possible, their genetic reagents in an appropriate repository (e.g., the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers, the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, or other germplasm banks). Additionally, the genetic origin of the material discussed in an article should be completely described. If no strain or stock repository exists for a material, authors are expected to make their material available to the community in a timely fashion and at a reasonable cost.
Genetics has always published complete descriptions of the methodology employed by authors. As other journals increasingly impose page limitations, Genetics continues to maintain its commitment to clarity and completeness. For a study to reach its full impact, the data supporting the conclusions must be available. We expect that all data underlying an article published in Genetics will be available in the appropriate public repositories, where deemed necessary by the Editors. Sequence data should be deposited in GenBank/Embl/DDJB; gene expression data should be deposited in GEO/Array Express; genetic or protein interaction data should be deposited in BIOGrid; and Genome-Wide Association Studies data in humans should be deposited in the NCBI dbGaP database of genotypes and phenotypes. Phenotypic data, linked to the genotypic data, should be made available as well. As more data repositories become available, authors will be expected to deposit their primary data there. If an appropriate public repository is not available, Genetics will work with authors to publish the data as supporting information. In addition to the data, authors should make available their complete results. All summary data developed and used to make inferences in the article should be documented. In addition, the analysis programs and the full documentation of these programs should be provided so that the data analysis is transparent. Genetics is taking a stand about what counts in science: the content, not just the conclusions.
To enhance and improve the interpretation of results published in the journal, Genetics has reached out to the databases. Articles describing studies of Caenorhabditis elegans are linked to genes, alleles, proteins, and other objects in WormBase. We intend to add this type of linking for additional organismal databases.
Genetics is committed to presenting the complete story and in doing so will not shy away from complexity. We encourage your suggestions for ways to increase both the access and the usefulness of results presented in our journal.