Analysis of dosimetric parameters reporting in biological dosimetry peer-reviewed publications: strengths and weaknesses
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: PURPOSE: Dosimetry reporting in radiobiological studies is frequently incomplete and leads to poor replicability. As the main objective of biological dosimetry is estimating an exposure dose reflecting a whole-body dose equivalent to assess acute and delayed health risks, dosimetry reporting is even more crucial. This study aims to evaluate the quality of the dosimetry reporting and irradiation parameters related to biological dosimetry publications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 114 publications over a period of 94 years focused on biological dosimetry studies were analyzed. Nineteen parameters distributed into four categories (source specification, irradiation geometry, calibration, and irradiation details) were scored to evaluate the quality of the dosimetry reporting. RESULTS: We show that, even though parameters such as radiation type, sample type, and dose are systematically reported, and source type, energy/voltage, dose rate, and exposure type in more than 80% of publications, several crucial parameters are missing. Specifically, information regarding the dosimetry protocol, setup, and calibration are often not reported, making it impossible to reproduce the experiments. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted that certain parameter, such as the source used or the irradiation dose, are very often well-reported. Still, critical parameters such as the dosimetric quantity or the method used for dosimetric measurements have to be systematically added. Efforts already underway in this area must be continued to further improve the description of irradiation parameters for radiobiology studies.
Authors: Morgane Dos Santos, François Trompier
Institution: Autorité de sûreté nucléaire et de radioprotection
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4410091601