Jacoby D. Baker Cathryn L. Abbott Rachel J. Brown Joseph M. Craine Zachary Gold Margaret Hunter Mark D. Johnson Devin Nicole Jones-Slobodian Michelle J. Jungbluth Sean P. Jungbluth Yer Lor Aaron P. Maloy Christopher M. Merkes Rachel T. Noble Nastassia V. Patin Adam Sepulveda Stephen Frank Spear Joshua A. Steele Miwa Takahashi Alison W. Watts Susanna Theroux Katy E. Klymus 2024 <p><span>Environmental DNA (</span><abbr id="ABBRID0ESDAC" title="Environmental DNA">eDNA</abbr><span>) and RNA (</span><abbr id="ABBRID0EWDAC" title="Environmental RNA">eRNA</abbr><span>) metabarcoding has become a popular tool for assessing biodiversity from environmental samples, but inconsistent documentation of methods, data and metadata makes results difficult to reproduce and synthesise. A working group of scientists have collaborated to produce a set of minimum reporting guidelines for the constituent steps of metabarcoding workflows, from the physical layout of laboratories through to data archiving. We emphasise how reporting the suite of data and metadata should adhere to findable, accessible, interoperable and reproducible (</span><abbr id="ABBRID0E1DAC" title="findable, accessible, interoperable and reproducible">FAIR</abbr><span>) data standards, thereby providing context for evaluating and understanding study results. An overview of the documentation considerations for each workflow step is presented and then summarised in a checklist that can accompany a published study or report. Ensuring workflows are transparent and documented is critical to reproducible research and should allow for more efficient uptake of metabarcoding data into management decision-making.</span></p> application/pdf 10.3897/mbmg.8.128689 en Pensoft Publishers The MIEM guidelines: Minimum information for reporting of environmental metabarcoding data article