Paper AS-MoM3
XPS and the Reproducibility Crisis

Monday, October 22, 2018, 9:00 am, Room 204

There is a growing awareness of reproducibility issues in many areas of science, including those associated with the AVS. In a 2016 survey of 1576 scientists reported in Nature (533 (2016) 452-454), 90% of those interviewed indicated that there was at least some level of reproducibility crisis in the scientific literature and more than half indicated that the crisis was significant. Data reproducibility and replication issues appear to be systemic and occur at multiple levels in the scientific process (in addition to fraud which is real but infrequent and not the focus here) including: i) within in a single study (Are results within one study appropriately reproducible, internally consistent, and adequately reported?), ii) within a laboratory (Have research groups established clear procedures and protocols to pass on to others the details needed for reproducing materials or other aspects of research?), iii) in reported results (Are measurement approaches and information in publications adequately detailed so that others could reproduce the work?). As the most commonly applied surface analysis method, use (or misuse) of XPS is a contributor to reproducibility issues but XPS is also an important tool that can be used to address some of the problems. Because of the high importance of the surface composition and chemistry on behaviors of materials as well as in biological and environmental systems, the use of XPS has been increasing for at least two decades. In the area of nanoparticles, lack of surface characterization is one source of material non-reproducibility. However, many researchers lack the experience or expertise needed to obtain the information sought from XPS measurements in useful and reproducible ways. Multiple types of problems appear and many of them can be observed in the literature including: analysis of samples at an inappropriate times or in non-optimal conditions; inappropriate handling and preparation of samples; damage to samples during analysis leading to faulty conclusions; incorrect or inconsistent quantification and/or spectral interpretation; lack of calibration and/or incorrect instrument set up; chemically meaningless fitting of data; inadequate reporting of methods, processes and results. This talk highlights examples of where XPS has been a tool for addressing reproducibility challenges, show a few examples of problem areas and summarize actions that the AVS is undertaking to help address reproducibility issues.