Welcome to Q-CoFa

What is Q-CoFa?

Q-CoFa is a project funded by BMBF to assess the interactions between core facilities and their users in order to provide recommendations for improving research practices and data quality. It was initiated as a response to the recent data reproducibility crisis in life-sciences, as exemplified by the survey of 1500 scientists published in Nature in 2016 [1], revealing that 70% scientists could not reproduce published results.

Mission of Q-CoFa

This website presents a compilation of practical recommendations on how to ensure research quality in core facilities. The ideas and proposed solutions address all aspects of research quality in core facilities. They are applicable in general or can be adapted to the specific needs of your core facility.

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Q-CoFa recommendations are based on

• Survey results of 275 Core Facilities in 2020 (see survey). Survey about quality and management between CF and users.
• Review of current literature
• Actual guidelines and norms

How can Q-CoFa help me?

• improve research quality
• improve efficiency and service
• review my facility (critical self-assessment)
• benchmarking
• prepare for an audit
• set up a new core facility

Is Q-CoFa useful for me?

New role for core facilities?

• Teach and promote good scientific practices
• Deliver quality stamp
• scientific gatekeeping

Please contribute

This is a wiki website. Please feel free to participate to the dynamic improvement of this site. We welcome your collaboration.