posted on 2021-01-20, 01:13authored byHui-Yin Chang, Sean M. Colby, Xiuxia Du, Javier D. Gomez, Maximilian J. Helf, Katerina Kechris, Christine R. Kirkpatrick, Shuzhao Li, Gary J. Patti, Ryan S. Renslow, Shankar Subramaniam, Mukesh Verma, Jianguo Xia, Jamey D. Young
A growing number
of software tools have been developed for metabolomics
data processing and analysis. Many new tools are contributed by metabolomics
practitioners who have limited prior experience with software development,
and the tools are subsequently implemented by users with expertise
that ranges from basic point-and-click data analysis to advanced coding.
This Perspective is intended to introduce metabolomics software users
and developers to important considerations that determine the overall
impact of a publicly available tool within the scientific community.
The recommendations reflect the collective experience of an NIH-sponsored
Metabolomics Consortium working group that was formed with the goal
of researching guidelines and best practices for metabolomics tool
development. The recommendations are aimed at metabolomics researchers
with little formal background in programming and are organized into
three stages: (i) preparation, (ii) tool development, and (iii) distribution
and maintenance.