# Deposit the raw blots, gels and microscopy images behind every figure

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-raw-image-deposit/  
OnCo record `idea-tr2-raw-image-deposit` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Published figures are cropped and processed. Requiring the original, uncropped image files to be deposited lets anyone check that the figure shows what it claims.

## Summary

Western blot and microscopy figures are the most common site of error and manipulation in biomedical papers. Some journals now request uncropped blots as supplementary files; deposit in a public repository with checksums and metadata (instrument, exposure, processing steps) would make verification and re-analysis possible and would deter selective cropping and splicing.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Mandatory raw image deposit reduces image-related corrections and retractions at adopting journals by at least half over five years relative to non-adopting journals.
- Rationale: Sequencing data deposit became universal within a decade of being mandated and enabled a generation of re-analysis; imaging data can follow.
- Proposed test: Two journals mandate deposit; audit a random sample for compliance and for discrepancies between raw and published images; track corrections.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: policy

## Sources

- BioImage Archive: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/bioimage-archive/

## Connected records

- ideas: [Journals check that data links actually work, and flag papers whose data vanish](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-data-link-enforcement/), [Random audits of published, funded research, like tax audits](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-random-audit/), [Run automated statistics and image checks on every cancer manuscript before review](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-automated-stats-check/), [Time-stamped electronic lab notebooks submitted with the paper](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-timestamped-eln/)
- bottlenecks: [Preclinical results do not reproduce](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-reproducibility/)

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