The scientists involved have gone public over the issue in order to raise awareness of what they see as a key problem with the spreadsheet software. The scientists claim the spreadsheet software automatically converts the names of certain genes into dates. As an example, they have found out when gene symbols like “SEPT2” (which is a shortened version of the gene Septin 2) this is altered automatically by Excel to “September 2.” In genetics, vertebrate genes and proteins have names (typically strings of words) and symbols, which are short identifiers (typically 3 to 8 characters).
The researchers highlight a similar error with Apache OpenOffice Calc., although the error is said not to occur with Google Sheets. The researchers are based at Melbourne-based academic institute Baker IDI, and they claim to have spotted the errors in some 704 science papers from a total reviewed of 3,597.
Neuroskeptic (@Neuro_Skeptic) “Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature – caused by Microsoft Excel turning names into dates .”
In response, Microsoft has told the BBC that the gene renaming errors can be overcome if users make alterations in the application settings: “Excel is able to display data and text in many different ways. Default settings are intended to work in most day-to-day scenarios.”
For regular users of Microsoft Excel the conversion is not surprising and Excel does default to dates in this format, because it is set-up with an accountancy default mode. It can be easily changed through cell formatting.
The matter highlights the issue of data integrity and how scientists need to be more focused on the issue. Data entered into spreadsheets needs to be checked by a second person and calculations should only be run once verification has been completed. Where calculations are used, the macros run need to be validated.
The Australian academics have published their findings in the journal Genome Biology. The paper is titled “Gene name errors are widespread in the scientific literature.”
