Microbiome Data and Metadata Sharing for Reproducible Research
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiomes".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 63
Special Issue Editor
Interests: microbial diversity; urban microbiome; microbiome of built environment (MoBE); antimicrobial resistance; metagenomics; comparative genomics; plasmid host range; reproducible bioinformatics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to promote reproducibility, transparency, and data reusability in microbiome and metagenome research. Contributions are welcome from studies of any scale, emphasizing detailed metadata descriptions and open data sharing. By highlighting best practices, this Special Issue seeks to foster open science and enable meaningful meta-analyses across microbiome studies, including urban environments.
For “(meta)genome reports”, while submissions from studies of any scale are welcome (no restriction on sample size), the following points are recommended to promote detailed metadata and foster data sharing and open science for reproducibility:
- Detailed Metadata Descriptions
Comprehensive metadata is essential for future meta-analysis research. Examples include links to publicly accessible administrative information pages summarizing data on urban characteristics, climate, population density, gender ratio, age distribution, waves of infections caused by microorganisms (e.g., COVID-19), antibiotic usage, and more.
- Facilitating Data Reusability
Making input, intermediate, and output files publicly available ensures that researchers worldwide can verify and reuse datasets. For instance, in previous microbiome studies based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, critical data files—such as multiple sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees for microbial diversity metrics (e.g., UniFrac)—have rarely been shared. Addressing this gap can significantly advance the field and ensure reproducibility.
Dr. Haruo Suzuki
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- microbiome data sharing
- metadata standards
- reproducible research
- meta-analysis
- microbiome
- urban microbiome
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