"Version: 20231101"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Introduction--quality management systems -- 1.1. A brief history of quality assurance -- 1.2. Quality infrastructure -- 1.3. Consistent measurement quantities and units -- 1.4. Written guidance that describes best practice -- 1.5. Accreditation -- 1.6. Enforcement--legal metrology -- 1.7. An example of the quality infrastructure in practice : surface contamination monitors

2. Quality in practice -- 2.1. Introduction -- 2.2. Instrumentation -- 2.3. Laboratory facilities -- 2.4. Calibration -- 2.5. Validation and measurement uncertainty -- 2.6. Pass or fail decisions : conformity assessment -- 2.7. Software validation -- 2.8. Demonstrating that the validation studies have worked--proficiency test exercises -- 2.9. Maintaining the quality of measurements

3. Management aspects of quality -- 3.1. The Quality Policy -- 3.2. The Quality Manual -- 3.3. People -- 3.4. Processes -- 3.5. Scientific work

4. The future of quality assurance -- 4.1. Digitalization -- 4.2. Quality assurance and academic research (the reproducibility crisis).

Scientific research generates data. However, if the quality of the data is poor and unreliable, progress will be impeded- sometimes for years. Scientists conducting research must be fully equipped with the appropriate tools to plan and execute well managed, reproducible scientific research. The aim of this book is to introduce the topic of quality assurance management systems such as ISO17025 and ISO9001 to scientists at an early stage in their careers. It describes the issues they are likely to encounter in the workplace: what should be done to check (and double-check) their work and how to document what they have done. There are many interesting scientific challenges on the way - puzzling out what could possibly go wrong and avoiding the problem is often as fascinating as carrying out the work itself.

BSc/MSc/PhD students, early career researchers, and students starting industrial placements.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.

Steven Judge is the former Director of the Ionizing Radiation Department at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in Paris, the institute that is at the heart of the international measurement system. He has a background in nuclear physics research, and he has worked in various roles at the National Physical Laboratory, the UK nuclear industry and at a radiopharmaceutical manufacturer. Quality assurance has been a key aspect of his career, including ensuring the accuracy and reproducibility of measurement standards relied on worldwide for medical imaging, cancer therapy and environmental protection. A trained technical assessor for the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, he has contributed to the development of ISO standards and was responsible for quality assurance issues at the BIPM.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on January 4, 2024).