Xenbase-NXR RRID Initiative

The National Xenopus Resource and Xenbase are pleased to be a part of the Resource Identification Initiative, a project aimed at clearly identifying key research resources used in the course of scientific research. These key research resources include model organisms, antibodies, databases, stock centers and software tools.

This initiative will help disambiguate which resources and reagents (including frogs) were used in the research, promoting reproducibility, rigor, and transparency.  Using identifiers, the RRID numbers, allows questions such as “who else used this frog?” or “which antibody did they use in that experiment, and where can I get it?” to be answered more easily.  All Xenopus stocks supplied by the NXR now carry a RRID number. Over 2.4 million antibodies and 400+ data resources have RRIDs.

Many journal publishers, including Nature, Wiley, Elsevier, BMC, and PLoS are now directing authors to consult the research identifier portal SciCrunch (http://scicrunch.org/resources) to retrieve RRID numbers. Authors just need to copy and paste the ‘cite this’ text for each reagent or resource, and include the citation in the Materials and Methods section of a manuscript, or you can cite resources like the NXR or Xenbase in your acknowledgements.

Click this link to see list of participating journals that will require you to use RRIDs in your papers.

The format for citation is relatively straightforward, and we provide a range of examples below.

How to Cite an RRID:

Genetically modified organisms:

     "transgenic X. laevis were developed in J strain (RRID:NXR_0.024), and the line Xla.Tg(myl2:GFP)^Mohun (RRID: NXR_0.0027) was deposited with NXR (RRID:SCR_013731).”

     “The line Xla.Tg(CMV:memGFP,cryga:mCherry)^NXR (RRID:NXR_0.0012) was obtained from the NXR (RRID:SCR_013731).”

Advanced workshops:

     “Imaging techniques, bioinformatics tools and genome editing information were learned at the NXR workshop on [date] (RRID:SCR_013731).”

Antibodies:

     "Sections were stained with a mouse monoclonal antibody against sarcomeric actin (act3) at 1:500 dilution (Sigma-Aldrich Cat# A2172 RRID:AB_476695).”

Database reference:

     "gene symbols follow Xenbase [version] (http://www.xenbase.org/ , RRID:SCR_003280).”

     “Phenotypes were described using anatomy terms from the XAO [version] (http://www.xenbase.org/anatomy/xao.do?method=display, RRID:SCR_004337).”

How to Request an RRID:

If you cannot find an RRID for a frog or antibody that you used (on Xenbase or at the NXR website), you can submit the frog/reagent details to SciCrunch, so that it can be given proper identifiers for future use. The process takes about 1 week.  The portal includes Xenopus and as well as many commercial antibodies and some lab-sourced ones. When you cannot find an RRID please see the instructions at https://scicrunch.org/resources/about/guidelines#organism for submitting a new organism to the relevant model organism database. Antibodies can be added via the Antibody Registry (http://antibodyregistry.org/add); please note that login is required on that site.

Read more:

On the reproducibility of science: unique identification of research resources in the biomedical literature.
Vasilevsky et al. 2013. Peer J. 148.https://peerj.com/articles/148/.

Reality check on reproducibility. Nature Editorial. 25 May 2016. http://www.nature.com/news/reality-check-on-reproducibility-1.19961

Note:

Contact Xenbase for help with gene and transgenic naming: xenbase@ucalgary.ca.

See guideline for Xenopus gene nomenclature here:  http://www.xenbase.org/gene/static/geneNomenclature.jsp