Why this discipline needs its own guide
Background
Biological sciences encompass highly collaborative and diverse methodologies, ranging from wet-lab bench chemistry to advanced bioinformatics and animal modeling. To foster open science and absolute transparency, peer-reviewed biology journals increasingly require complete CRediT declarations to attribute experimental, analytical, and curational efforts.
This guide translates the 14 NISO CRediT roles for biological research, fully aligning them with the MDAR (Materials, Design, Analysis, and Reporting) Reproducibility Framework and the ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines for animal experiments.
Key considerations
How to assign the roles
- Culturing established cell lines or maintaining mouse colonies belongs to Resources or Investigation. Creating or engineering novel gene-edited strains (e.g., via CRISPR/Cas9) belongs to Methodology and Investigation.
- Executing DNA/RNA sequencing or protein mass-spectrometry measurements is Investigation. Designing the downstream bioinformatic analytical pipeline, scripting variant calling, or performing differential expression analysis maps to Software and Formal Analysis.
- Cleaning, annotating, and submitting raw sequencing data to repositories such as NCBI BioProject, SRA, or GEO belongs under Data Curation.
- Conducting independent replication assays or blindly verifying experimental phenotypes is Validation.
- Collecting ecological field specimens, mapping geographic distributions, and taxological classification belongs to Investigation.
Reporting Guideline Integration
MDAR & ARRIVE 2.0 to CRediT Crosswalk
Mapping Materials, Reproducibility, and Animal Reporting Guidelines to CRediT Roles
The MDAR framework and ARRIVE 2.0 are international benchmarks for biological and animal research reporting. This crosswalk maps reporting standards directly to CRediT contributor roles to ensure rigorous attribution.
| Checklist Item / Phase | Mapped CRediT Role(s) | Guidance & Practical Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| MDAR: Reagent AuthenticationAuthenticating cell lines, validating antibodies, and verifying chemical probes. | ValidationResources | Purchasing standard antibodies maps to Resources. Performing mycoplasma contamination checks and validation assays is Validation. |
| MDAR: Biological ProtocolsAuthoring and sharing structured wet-lab protocols (e.g., on protocols.io). | MethodologyData Curation | Conceiving and optimizing a biological protocol is Methodology. Formatting, cataloging, and depositing the protocol publicly maps to Data Curation. |
| MDAR: Data AvailabilityFormatting and uploading raw data (FASTQ, mass spectrometry files) to repositories. | Data Curation | Cleaning, annotating, and submitting data files to public portals (NCBI SRA, GEO, PRIDE, Zenodo) is Data Curation. |
| ARRIVE: Experimental Design & PowerPlanning animal groups, determining sample sizes, and calculating statistical power. | MethodologyFormal Analysis | Designing the multi-arm in vivo study is Methodology. Performing mathematical power calculations for cohort sizing is Formal Analysis. |
| ARRIVE: Blinding & RandomizationFormulating and executing schemes to randomly allocate animals and blind investigators. | MethodologyValidation | Conceiving the randomization design is Methodology. Physically coding the cages and executing blinded analyses maps to Validation. |
| ARRIVE: Animal Housing & WelfareDocumenting husbandry conditions, dietary regimes, environmental enrichment, and ethics. | ResourcesProject Administration | Managing the vivarium and ensuring animal welfare standards are met is Resources. Preparing and securing animal ethics (IACUC) approvals is Project Administration. |
| ARRIVE: Experimental ProceduresExecuting dosing routes, administering anesthesia, monitoring endpoints, and performing euthanization. | Investigation | Conducting in vivo procedures, drug dosing, surgical interventions, and physiological monitoring maps directly to Investigation. |
Worked example
A representative CRediT statement
Author Contributions (CRediT) Dr. K. Patel: Conceptualization, Methodology (CRISPR design), Writing – original draft. Prof. J. MacLeod: Funding acquisition, Supervision, Resources (transgenic lines). Dr. T. Schmidt: Investigation (confocal microscopy), Validation (phenotypic replication). M. Tanaka: Data curation (SRA database submission), Software (sequence quality pipelines). L. Zhao: Formal analysis (transcriptomic network modeling), Writing – review & editing.
The role names above match the canonical wording at casrai.org/credit. Most publishers accept exactly this format.
Further reading
Discipline-specific sources
Common questions
Frequently asked
How are ORCIDs and CRediT linked during data deposit?
Depositing raw genomic or proteomic files in public repositories (GenBank, SRA, PRIDE) is recorded under Data Curation. Databases now allow authors to link their ORCIDs directly to the deposit metadata, ensuring permanent machine-readable credit.
What role is assigned to a collaborator who reproduces our Western Blot phenotype?
Performing independent validation assays to confirm that a molecular phenotype (like protein expression or cell viability) is reproducible maps directly to Validation.
How do ARRIVE 2.0 animal ethics protocols map to CRediT?
Drafting the animal ethics protocol and obtaining IACUC approvals is Methodology and Project Administration. Performing the daily animal husbandry and observations is Resources and Investigation.
