Reporting and Publishing Data

Best practices for reporting radiocarbon data when you publish:

The following variables should be included in publications that contain radiocarbon data. Online supplementary materials are a convenient place for reporting details associated with radiocarbon values.

 

Reported variable Example Reasoning
Radiocarbon measurement 279.1 Supplying the raw data allows for compiliation of your data with other published datasets.
Year of measurement 2013 The year of AMS measurement must be known in order to convert between units of Fm and Δ14C.
Year of collection 1992 The year of collection must be known in order to calculate residence/transit times, and to assess the contribution of bomb C.
Analytical error ±3.7 Useful for gauging precision of value.
δ13C -25±2 The 13C value used for calculation must be known, as this value directly effects the 14C value. If an “inline” correction is applied, this can be noted in the methods section.
AMS Laboratory CAMS – LLNL Location of measurement must be known in order for idepenent verification of the data to be possible.
AMS sample ID 164136 The sample code assigned by the AMS lab must be known in order for indepenent verification of the data to be possible.