On behalf of the Data-Enabled Life Sciences Alliance (DELSA Global), we applaud the significant, timely steps Nature is taking to ensure reproducibility and transparency in life-sciences articles (Nature 496, 398; 2013 and go.nature.com/oloeip).

We discussed Nature's Reporting Checklist for Life Sciences at our annual workshop last month (see www.delsaglobal.org). By encouraging researchers to make their data and metadata available, and to clarify their analysis methods, the checklist will help to prevent mistakes from being propagated and resources from being wasted on dead-end experiments.

This is important in an era of tight funding and limited training in the quantitative aspects of research, both of which inhibit confirmatory experimentation. In addressing the veracity of data as well as the reliability and reproducibility of research, Nature's checklist will stimulate the transformation of data into knowledge, action and outcomes.

Scientific advances need strong public support to make a difference, and your policies constitute an important step in preserving public trust in science. The checklist can act as a useful template for development by publishers, federal agencies, funders, research organizations, societies and communities.