| name | ngeo-methods |
| description | Use when building the online Methods section of a Nature Geoscience manuscript so every quantitative Earth-science claim is grounded in data, model diagnostics, and quantified uncertainty. Structures Methods and the reproducibility layer; does not design figures or frame the headline result. |
Nature Geoscience Methods (ngeo-methods)
When to trigger
- Your main text is carrying instrument, sampling, or model-configuration detail that belongs online
- You cannot tell what a reader needs in the main text versus what belongs in online Methods
- Referees of a prior draft asked how a number was derived or how uncertainty was propagated
- The Article is over length and Methods-type material is a prime relocation target
- You are unsure how to state data and code availability
The Nature Methods architecture
Nature Geoscience separates the main text from an online Methods section (placed after the main text, divided by topical subheadings; verify current length allowances). The division of labor:
- Main text carries only what a broad reader needs to believe and interpret the headline advance: the essential approach, the decisive observational or model constraint, and the headline uncertainty.
- Online Methods carries the full, reproducible account: instruments and platforms, sampling and site selection, proxy calibration, model setup and forcing, statistical procedures, and the complete uncertainty budget.
The online Methods is not an appendix of leftovers — it is peer-reviewed in full and is where a specialist referee decides whether to trust the result.
What every Nature Geoscience Methods must ground
| Claim type | Must appear in Methods |
|---|
| Field / lab measurement | instrument, precision, sampling design, replication |
| Remote-sensing / satellite product | sensor, product version, retrieval, resolution, bias handling |
| Proxy reconstruction | calibration dataset, transfer function, age model, error |
| Model result | model + version, resolution, forcing/boundary conditions, spin-up, ensemble |
| Any statistical inference | test, assumptions, significance definition, multiple-comparison handling |
| Every headline number | how uncertainty was estimated and propagated |
Grounding without over-claiming (a Nat. Geosci. distinctive)
Nature Geoscience referees are sharp about the gap between what data show and what is inferred. Pre-empt the two signature objections explicitly:
- "The model is not anchored to observations." → State the observational validation in the main text and the full comparison in Methods. A model result with no data anchor is a classic desk-reject.
- "The uncertainty is not quantified / not propagated." → Give every headline number a stated uncertainty and describe the propagation in Methods. Separate measurement error, model spread, and structural uncertainty where they differ in kind.
Data, code, and reproducibility statements
Nature Portfolio requires explicit statements — plan them here, not at submission:
- Data availability: deposit in a community repository where one exists (e.g. PANGAEA for Earth-system data, NCEI, IRIS/SAGE for seismology, GenBank for sequences), otherwise a general repository (Figshare, Dryad, Zenodo). State accession/DOI. "Available on request" alone is not sufficient for the underlying data.
- Code availability: custom code that generates the central results must be made available (repository + DOI, or at minimum to editors/referees); state it explicitly.
- Reporting Summary: the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary accompanies submission (see
ngeo-submission); its content must be consistent with Methods.
Sentence patterns that buy referee trust
- Validation clause (main text): "Simulated surface fluxes reproduce the observed seasonal cycle to within X% (Methods, Fig. Sn)."
- Split uncertainty: "We estimate a rate of value ± (measurement) ± (model spread), the latter dominated by [source]."
- Age-model flag (paleo): "Ages are on the [framework] timescale; the reconstruction is robust to alternative age models (Methods)."
- Ensemble one-liner: "Results are consistent across all N ensemble members (Methods)."
Checklist
Anti-patterns
- Treating online Methods as a dumping ground rather than a reproducible protocol
- A model-only claim with no observational validation
- Headline numbers with no uncertainty, or measurement and model spread merged silently
- "Data available on request" as the only data statement
- Undefined proxy calibrations or unstated age models in paleoclimate work
- Methods that contradict the Reporting Summary or the availability statements
Output format
【Main-text trust minimum】approach / decisive constraint / headline uncertainty
【Online Methods subheadings】list
【Model anchored to observations】yes / fix
【Headline uncertainty propagated】yes / fix
【Data availability】repository + DOI? yes / fix
【Code availability】stated? yes / fix
【Next】ngeo-figures (lead figure) or ngeo-supplementary (SI partition)
Methods length allowances, repository lists, and reporting-summary requirements evolve — verify current Nature Geoscience / Nature Portfolio policy on the official author pages (Checked: 2026-07-16).
