Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport is becoming an increasingly common tool used in both diagnostic and radiation therapy studies. Unfortunately, those of us involved with refereeing and/or editing the resulting reports have found that many papers fail to adequately describe the Monte Carlo components of these studies. In an effort to improve on this situation, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine established a task group charged to “develop a set of guidelines regarding the Monte Carlo related information that should be included when publishing studies that include Monte Carlo simulations”. The resulting RECORDS (improved Reporting of montE CarlO RaDiation transport Studies) report has been published as open access and is available here.

The report of just over 4 pages consists mostly of 2 tables. The first table is a checklist of 20 items that should be discussed in papers that include Monte Carlo calculations. Although it is not considered mandatory that every paper using Monte Carlo techniques should include every item in the checklist, authors are encouraged to consider the relevance of every item to their study. None of the items is especially innovative, but it is surprising how often authors forget to mention some important details. Examples of entries in the checklist include the need for specifying the cross-section data being used; the need to describe how scored quantities are normalized; the need to specify both the statistical and other uncertainties in the results and the methods used to estimate them; and the need to specify what type of validation has been done, either during the present study or in previous publications relevant to the present study. The second table is a template to be possibly used in the submitted paper to include many of the items in the checklist in a concise manner. Owing to the potential complexity of a study, there might be items that will be discussed in the text. The remainder of the report consists of more extensive discussion of 12 of the items included on the checklist, to clarify what is being suggested.

The hope is that the task group report will prove useful for new researchers using Monte Carlo techniques for the first time, by causing them to think about the many issues they must take into account. For more-senior authors, the hope is that the checklist can be used as an aid to ensure they have considered all aspects that should be included in their paper. Finally, it is hoped that the task group report could be a useful tool for manuscript reviewers, to help ensure that the studies being considered are scientifically sound and are adequately and comprehensively described.