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Glossary · CRediT contributor roles

What does “Formal analysis” mean in CRediT?

Formal analysis is the CRediT role for analyzing or synthesizing the data of a study with statistical, mathematical, computational or other formal methods: running the tests, models and simulations that produce results, and interpreting what they show.

Formal analysis is one of the 14 roles of CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy), published as the ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022 standard. It covers analytical work that evaluates, tests, summarizes and interprets research data and draws conclusions from it.

The examples published by NISO (National Information Standards Organization) include finding patterns and relationships between variables in quantitative or qualitative datasets, running statistical tests to compare groups or assess change, applying AI and machine-learning models to predict outcomes, and building computational simulations of complex systems. The standard’s foreword names statistical analysis among the contributions CRediT is meant to make visible in multi-author papers.

Neighboring roles: choosing the analysis technique while designing the study is listed under Methodology; applying it to the data is Formal analysis. Writing new analysis code or a tool is Software, cleaning and documenting the dataset is Data curation, turning results into charts or figures is Visualization, and replicating or benchmarking results to verify them is Validation. The same person may hold several of these roles.

Example

In a hypothetical cohort study, the biostatistician who compares survival between two treatment groups and fits the adjusted model would appear in the statement as: G.H.: Formal analysis. The physician who wrote the script that extracts the variables from hospital records would appear as: I.J.: Software.

A point to watch

In NISO’s examples, choosing the analysis techniques is a study-design decision listed under Methodology, while Formal analysis is applying them to the data. For someone who only chose the statistical test in the protocol, that split points to Methodology; a person who did both can list both.

Related terms

Guides and tools

Sources

  1. Formal analysis – CRediT — NISO (CRediT)
  2. ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022, CRediT, Contributor Roles Taxonomy — NISO, 2022
  3. CRediT role descriptors — NISO (CRediT)