Intern:Method

The method table contains definitions of instruments or procedures describing a specific method. They are part of the Event and parameter metadata.

General rules for generating new methods (January 2023)

 * 1) Always ask data submitter for instrument type, manufacturer & model name/ protocol used (Canned response)
 * 2) Information which is nevertheless unavailable can be omitted
 * 3) To define a new method, open the method table, click on and fill out the fields:
 * 4) * Name (mandatory) - Full name of the method; follow the syntax rules shown below
 * 5) * Reference (typically used for methods, not instruments) - The content of this field is not shown to public yet (Status: January 2023) and is relational to the reference table.
 * 6) * URI (typically used for DOIs) - this field should be used for DOIs of the reference attached to the method (as reference is currently not public). In some cases, URI can link to a descriptive web page, or a document archived in Intern:ePIC or a handle linking to a Intern:PDF. Keep in mind that links to non-persistent external webpages will not be checked for being up-to-date
 * 7) * Description (optional) -for internal information only. The content of this field is not part of the official data description, but can help in curation process
 * 8) * Abbreviation (optional) - add unique abbreviation especially if method will be used in the Event import form, do not use spaces.
 * 9) Whenever possible, add method terms. For further information on how to to do this, see  . Please note: Developments are underway that will allow for semi-automated annotation mapping.
 * 10) PANGAEA data editors are allowed to rename existing methods according to up-to-date syntax rules. Please document here: https://issues.pangaea.de/browse/PEB-248

Syntax (since January 2023)
You find an Excel tool that helps generating the correct method names here: Method generator 

1. Instruments:  Instrument type, Manufacturer , Model name  [Further information 1, Further information 2 etc.]

Further information are optional and will only be added if essential
 * Examples:
 * CTD, Sea-Bird, SBE 911plus
 * Carbon and nitrogen and sulfur (CNS) analyzer, Elementar, Vario MAX
 * Multiparametric probe, YSI, 600QS [Calibrated with 1413 µS/cm standard]
 * Multiple opening/closing net [Meshsize: 100 µm]
 * Pyranometer, Kipp & Zonen, CM22 [SN: 040087, WRMC No.: 12029]

2. Other methods:  Method type according to reference et al. (YYYY) [Further information 1, Further information 2 etc.].

Further information are optional and will only be added if essential
 * Examples:
 * Age model according to Bruel and Sabatier (2020)
 * 14C radioactive tracer incubation according to Zhuang et al. (2018)
 * Calculated according to Wang et al. (2021)
 * Corrected according to Belanger et al. (2017)
 * According to Meyer et al. (2023)
 * Counted [375-400 µm fraction]
 * Protein assay according to Bradford (1976) [Bio-Rad kit 500.0006]

The following alternatives for delimiters can be chosen
 * according to if method is identical - Example: Calculated according to Broecker (1974)
 * modified after if method was modified - Example: Sanger Sequencing modified after Sanger et al. (1977)

Please provide the DOI for each reference cited.

3. Combination of several devices/methods: use the “;” separator and the following linking phrases to combine several methods
 * ; measured with - Example: CTD, Sea-Bird, SBE 911plus; measured with Dissolved oxygen sensor, Sea-Bird, SBE 43
 * ; coupled with - Example: Isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS), Thermo Scientific, Delta plus XP; coupled with Elemental Analyzer, CE Instruments, NA 1110
 * ; Other device/method - Example: e.g. Sanger Sequencing modified after Sanger et al. (1977); PacBio Sequencing according to Rhoads and Au (2015)
 * ; followed by - Example: Solid phase extraction (SPE) according to Meyer et al. (2016); followed by High temperature catalytic oxidation (HTCO) according to Smith et al. (2017))

Summary of syntax rules

 * 1) If available, attach one instrument and only the one with which the data was measured directly. If no instrument is available, attach a method instead. In exceptional cases, multiple instruments/methods can be added. Hierarchy as follows: Instrument > Method (one noun) > Method (two nouns) > Method (verb). Example: Spectrophotometer > Spectrophotometry > Spectrophotometry technique > Measured spectrophotometrically.
 * 2) If several instruments/methods were used (e.g. averages values of different instruments), add all important instruments/methods separated by ";". If method become too long, pick a more general method instead, e.g. "element analyzer" instead of 4 different element analyzer models.
 * 3) Instrument type: the more precise, the better (more general features will automatically defined through the attached method terms: e.g. an "isotope ratio mass spectrometer" is automatically assigned to the "Mass spectrometer" category).
 * 4) General spelling language is American English, but instrument models and companys are written according to the manufacturer's specification
 * 5) Write instrument models as they are written on the instrument or, if not accessible, as they appear on the manufacturer’s webpage.
 * 6) Write manufacturers’ names as they are written on the instrument, i.e. if the company has been sold/renamed etc., don’t use the most recent name, but the name as appropriate at the time where the instrument has been manufactured (new method is created when manufacturer’s name changes etc.)
 * 7) Capitalize the first word of the method (e.g. after “,”, "(", “according to” etc.); Capitalize model types the same way as manufacturer does
 * 8) No abbreviations unless they come in brackets within/after the spelled-out device type/method name. Example: Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) Detector, Canberra