Getting the Numbers Right in Medicinal Chemistry

Abstract

Medicinal Chemistry is a quantitative scientific discipline. Hence, it is of utmost importance that scientists working in this field pay rigorous attention to the correct representation of their quantitative data. However, browsing the Medicinal Chemistry literature, it becomes obvious that this is very often not the case. In particular, results from biological assays are too frequently reported with unreasonable numbers of significant figures. In this Perspective, it is argued that this is poor practice that sheds an unfortunate light on the discipline of Medicinal Chemistry and that therefore, more rigorous policies regarding the presentation of quantitative data in Medicinal Chemistry publications should be considered.