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Misuse of the term ‘trans-ethnic’ in genomics research

Nature Genetics volume 53, pages 1520–1521 (2021)Cite this article

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A concerning trend in genetics is the common use of the term ‘trans-ethnic’ to describe analyses that combine or compare several ancestrally diverse populations. In this commentary, we discuss how this term is inaccurate and alienating. We propose that geneticists avoid using the term trans-ethnic entirely and that researchers across disciplines reach a new consensus about the best terms to use to describe the populations we study.

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Fig. 1: Increased usage of the term trans-ethnic in PubMed NCBI publications since 2009.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Bloemendal, S. Callier, A. Jabloner, E. Hammonds, B. Ogbunu, A. Price, D. Reich and P. Turley for critical reading and comments on this manuscript. L.C. is supported by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a David & Lucile Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. H.F. was supported by NIH DP5 OD024582.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Mireille Kamariza, Lorin Crawford, David Jones, Hilary Finucane.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Mireille Kamariza

  2. Microsoft Research New England, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Lorin Crawford

  3. Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Lorin Crawford

  4. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David Jones

  5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Hilary Finucane

  6. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA, USA

    Hilary Finucane

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  1. Mireille Kamariza
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  4. Hilary Finucane
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All authors contributed equally.

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Correspondence to Mireille Kamariza, Lorin Crawford, David Jones or Hilary Finucane.

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Kamariza, M., Crawford, L., Jones, D. et al. Misuse of the term ‘trans-ethnic’ in genomics research. Nat Genet 53, 1520–1521 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00952-6

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