Metadata is essential in proteomics data repositories and is crucial to interpret and reanalyze the deposited data sets. For every proteomics data set, we should capture at least three levels of metadata: (i) data set description, (ii) the sample to data files related information, and (iii) standard data file formats (e.g., mzIdentML, mzML, or mzTab). While the data set description and standard data file formats are supported by all ProteomeXchange partners, the information regarding the sample to data files is mostly missing. Recently, members of the European Bioinformatics Community for Mass Spectrometry (EuBIC) have created an open-source project called Sample to Data file format for Proteomics (https://github.com/bigbio/proteomics-metadata-standard/) to enable the standardization of sample metadata of public proteomics data sets. Here, the project is presented to the proteomics community, and we call for contributors, including researchers, journals, and consortiums to provide feedback about the format. We believe this work will improve reproducibility and facilitate the development of new tools dedicated to proteomics data analysis.

中文翻译：

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迈向公共蛋白质组学存储库中的样本元数据标准。

元数据在蛋白质组学数据存储库中至关重要，对于解释和重新分析沉积的数据集至关重要。对于每个蛋白质组学数据集，我们应该捕获至少三个级别的元数据：（i）数据集描述，（ii）与数据文件相关的样本信息，以及（iii）标准数据文件格式（例如，mzIdentML，mzML或mzTab）。虽然所有ProteomeXchange合作伙伴都支持数据集描述和标准数据文件格式，但大多数缺少有关样本到数据文件的信息。最近，欧洲生物质谱学质谱协会（EuBIC）的成员创建了一个名为“蛋白质组学的样本到数据文件格式”的开源项目（https://github.com/bigbio/proteomics-metadata-standard/），以实现蛋白质组学数据集样本元数据的标准化。这里，该项目已提交给蛋白质组学界，我们呼吁包括研究人员，期刊和财团在内的贡献者提供有关该格式的反馈。我们相信这项工作将提高可重复性，并促进蛋白质组学数据分析专用新工具的开发。