Update January 14, 2021 – the deadline for submissions to this special issue has been extended to June 1, 2021!

BP4NTA stands for Benchmarking and Publications for Non-Targeted Analysis and we are a working group focused on addressing challenges in non-targeted analysis (NTA) studies.

NTA uses high resolution mass spectrometry to identify chemicals in samples without requiring the use of standards. NTA is an incredibly powerful analytical technique, and is increasingly used in many fields of research including environmental contamination, chemical exposures, and food safety.

However, foundational knowledge gaps persist; there is not yet a standardized vocabulary for discussing non-targeted work, nor a cohesive set of expectations for reporting research methods and quality control measures.

What BP4NTA Does

BP4NTA is in the process of developing a suite of resources that define key terms, provide reporting recommendations, and highlight scientific best practices for NTA studies, and we have created this website as a place to share information and outputs with the broader scientific community. If you look around, you will see the website currently includes lists of NTA resources (online databases, software programs, etc. and event where NTA research will be featured, as well as information about the history and membership of our working group.

While the current website contents are fairly limited, we have big plans!

When complete, the website will be focused around what we are currently referring to as the NTA Checklist. The checklist (currently in draft form) will be formatted as a table, and is organized based on the chronology of an NTA study.

Each section details key information that should be reported by NTA studies to ensure quality control, accuracy, and reproducibility. There will be a printer friendly, downloadable version of the checklist for convenient use by researchers, reviewers, and editors, and also a web version where each checklist section will be linked to detailed information about study components, including relevant literature citations.

We are very excited about the progress currently being made on checklist development, and are looking forward to sharing it! We are also developing a Glossary of NTA-related terminology and are working to expand our lists of resources and events.

Additionally, we will use this blog space to post about new NTA publications, featured BP4NTA members, and updates to the resources on the BP4NTA website. Subscribe to our mailing list (see the bottom of the homepage) to receive email updates about our posts!

We are very excited to see how the website develops and how the NTA community continues to grow and thrive! Feel free to contact us with any thoughts, opinions, resources you would like posted on our page, or if you are interested in joining the BP4NTA working group!

Best,

Sara Nason, Ph.D. and Seth Newton, Ph.D., BP4NTA website co-chairs