Digital Image Ethics

For more information, please consult this very well documented webpage published by our colleagues at the University of Arizona:

http://microscopy.arizona.edu/learn/digital-image-ethics

Article to download HERE.

An another excellent article: "CSI:cell Biology" from Helen Pearson.

In this article, the guidelines are the following:

1. Scientific digital images and data that can be compromised by inappropriate manipulations;
2. Manipulation of digital images should only be performed on a copy of the unprocessed image date file (always keep the original data file safe and unchanged!);
3. Simple adjustments to the entire image are usually acceptable;
4. Cropping an image isually acceptable;
5. Digital images that will be compared to one another should be acquired under identical conditions, and any post-acquisition should also be identical;
6. Manipulations that are specific to one area of an image and are not performed on other areas are questionable:
7. Use of software filters to improve image quality is usually not recommend for biological samples;
8. Cloning or copying objects into a digital image, from other parts of the same image or from a different image is very questionable;
9. Intensity measurements should be performed on uniformly processed image data, and the data should be calibrated to a known standard;
10. Avoid the use of lossy compression;
11. Magnification and resolution are important;
12. Be careful when changing the size (in pixels) of a digital image.