AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture.
Many publications lack sufficient background information (e.g. location) to be interpreted, replicated, or reused for synthesis. This impedes scientific progress and the application of science to practice. Reporting guidelines (e.g. checklists) improve reporting standards. They have been widely take...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285478 |
| _version_ | 1827923465070444544 |
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| author | Georgia M Daykin Marcelo A Aizen Luke G Barrett Lewis J Bartlett Péter Batáry Lucas A Garibaldi Ali Güncan Sridhar Gutam Bea Maas Jayalakshmi Mitnala Flavia Montaño-Centellas Tarirai Muoni Erik Öckinger Ode Okechalu Richard Ostler Simon G Potts David C Rose Cairistiona F E Topp Hope O Usieta Obaiya G Utoblo Christine Watson Yi Zou William J Sutherland Amelia S C Hood |
| author_facet | Georgia M Daykin Marcelo A Aizen Luke G Barrett Lewis J Bartlett Péter Batáry Lucas A Garibaldi Ali Güncan Sridhar Gutam Bea Maas Jayalakshmi Mitnala Flavia Montaño-Centellas Tarirai Muoni Erik Öckinger Ode Okechalu Richard Ostler Simon G Potts David C Rose Cairistiona F E Topp Hope O Usieta Obaiya G Utoblo Christine Watson Yi Zou William J Sutherland Amelia S C Hood |
| author_sort | Georgia M Daykin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many publications lack sufficient background information (e.g. location) to be interpreted, replicated, or reused for synthesis. This impedes scientific progress and the application of science to practice. Reporting guidelines (e.g. checklists) improve reporting standards. They have been widely taken up in the medical sciences, but not in ecological and agricultural research. Here, we use a community-centred approach to develop a reporting checklist (AgroEcoList 1.0) through surveys and workshops with 23 experts and the wider agroecological community. To put AgroEcoList in context, we also assessed the agroecological community's perception of reporting standards in agroecology. A total of 345 researchers, reviewers, and editors, responded to our survey. Although only 32% of respondents had prior knowledge of reporting guidelines, 76% of those that had said guidelines improved reporting standards. Overall, respondents agreed on the need of AgroEcolist 1.0; only 24% of respondents had used reporting guidelines before, but 78% indicated they would use AgroEcoList 1.0. We updated AgroecoList 1.0 based on respondents' feedback and user-testing. AgroecoList 1.0 consists of 42 variables in seven groups: experimental/sampling set-up, study site, soil, livestock management, crop and grassland management, outputs, and finances. It is presented here, and is also available on github (https://github.com/AgroecoList/Agroecolist). AgroEcoList 1.0 can serve as a guide for authors, reviewers, and editors to improve reporting standards in agricultural ecology. Our community-centred approach is a replicable method that could be adapted to develop reporting checklists in other fields. Reporting guidelines such as AgroEcoList can improve reporting standards and therefore the application of research to practice, and we recommend that they are adopted more widely in agriculture and ecology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:58:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-014b1456edbc4121a1ffca1982dbf73b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:58:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-014b1456edbc4121a1ffca1982dbf73b2023-06-17T05:31:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01186e028547810.1371/journal.pone.0285478AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture.Georgia M DaykinMarcelo A AizenLuke G BarrettLewis J BartlettPéter BatáryLucas A GaribaldiAli GüncanSridhar GutamBea MaasJayalakshmi MitnalaFlavia Montaño-CentellasTarirai MuoniErik ÖckingerOde OkechaluRichard OstlerSimon G PottsDavid C RoseCairistiona F E ToppHope O UsietaObaiya G UtobloChristine WatsonYi ZouWilliam J SutherlandAmelia S C HoodMany publications lack sufficient background information (e.g. location) to be interpreted, replicated, or reused for synthesis. This impedes scientific progress and the application of science to practice. Reporting guidelines (e.g. checklists) improve reporting standards. They have been widely taken up in the medical sciences, but not in ecological and agricultural research. Here, we use a community-centred approach to develop a reporting checklist (AgroEcoList 1.0) through surveys and workshops with 23 experts and the wider agroecological community. To put AgroEcoList in context, we also assessed the agroecological community's perception of reporting standards in agroecology. A total of 345 researchers, reviewers, and editors, responded to our survey. Although only 32% of respondents had prior knowledge of reporting guidelines, 76% of those that had said guidelines improved reporting standards. Overall, respondents agreed on the need of AgroEcolist 1.0; only 24% of respondents had used reporting guidelines before, but 78% indicated they would use AgroEcoList 1.0. We updated AgroecoList 1.0 based on respondents' feedback and user-testing. AgroecoList 1.0 consists of 42 variables in seven groups: experimental/sampling set-up, study site, soil, livestock management, crop and grassland management, outputs, and finances. It is presented here, and is also available on github (https://github.com/AgroecoList/Agroecolist). AgroEcoList 1.0 can serve as a guide for authors, reviewers, and editors to improve reporting standards in agricultural ecology. Our community-centred approach is a replicable method that could be adapted to develop reporting checklists in other fields. Reporting guidelines such as AgroEcoList can improve reporting standards and therefore the application of research to practice, and we recommend that they are adopted more widely in agriculture and ecology.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285478 |
| spellingShingle | Georgia M Daykin Marcelo A Aizen Luke G Barrett Lewis J Bartlett Péter Batáry Lucas A Garibaldi Ali Güncan Sridhar Gutam Bea Maas Jayalakshmi Mitnala Flavia Montaño-Centellas Tarirai Muoni Erik Öckinger Ode Okechalu Richard Ostler Simon G Potts David C Rose Cairistiona F E Topp Hope O Usieta Obaiya G Utoblo Christine Watson Yi Zou William J Sutherland Amelia S C Hood AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. PLoS ONE |
| title | AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. |
| title_full | AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. |
| title_fullStr | AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. |
| title_full_unstemmed | AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. |
| title_short | AgroEcoList 1.0: A checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture. |
| title_sort | agroecolist 1 0 a checklist to improve reporting standards in ecological research in agriculture |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285478 |
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