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Guidance on use of race, ethnicity, and geographic origin as proxies for genetic ancestry groups in biomedical publications

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References

  1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Using Population Descriptors in Genetics and Genomics Research: A New Framework for an Evolving Field (National Academies Press, 2023).

  2. Khan, A. T. et al. Cell Genom. 2, 100155 (2022).

  3. Whitman, A. et al. Addressing Social Determinants of Health: Examples of Successful Evidence-Based Strategies and Current Federal Efforts, report no. HP-2022-12; https://go.nature.com/4c2uUkx (ASPE, 2022).

  4. Flanagin, A., Frey, T. & Christiansen, S. L. JAMA 326, 621–627 (2021).

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Beachy for insightful comments on early drafts of the manuscript. We also thank V. L. Bonham Jr, K. Manickam and C. D. M. Royal for their review and comments. V. L. Bonham Jr’s review was conducted in his personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health, or the US Department of Health and Human Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency, Augusta, ME, USA

    W. Gregory Feero

  2. JAMA https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama

    W. Gregory Feero, Annette Flanagin & Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo

  3. University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Robert D. Steiner

  4. Genetics in Medicine https://www.gimjournal.org/

    Robert D. Steiner

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Anne Slavotinek

  6. American Journal of Medical Genetics https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15524833

    Anne Slavotinek

  7. Nature Genetics https://www.nature.com/ng/

    Tiago Faial

  8. Departments of Pediatrics and Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Michael J. Bamshad

  9. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances https://www.cell.com/hgg-advances/home

    Michael J. Bamshad

  10. Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Jehannine Austin

  11. Journal of Genetic Counseling https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15733599

    Jehannine Austin

  12. Department of Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Bruce R. Korf

  13. The American Journal of Human Genetics https://www.cell.com/ajhg/home

    Bruce R. Korf

Authors
  1. W. Gregory Feero
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  2. Robert D. Steiner
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  3. Anne Slavotinek
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  4. Tiago Faial
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  5. Michael J. Bamshad
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  6. Jehannine Austin
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  7. Bruce R. Korf
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  8. Annette Flanagin
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  9. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to W. Gregory Feero.

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Competing interests

R.D.S. reports receiving personal fees from Leadiant, Mirum, and PTC, and being an employee with equity from PreventionGenetics, part of Exact Sciences. A.S. reports receiving consulting fees from UptoDate. T.F. is chief editor of Nature Genetics. T.F. was not involved in the editorial handling or decision to accept this paper. His involvement has been disclosed internally to editorial directors at Springer Nature and approved. M.J.B. reports serving on the scientific advisory board of GeneDx and receiving research funding from GeneDx, Illumina, and PacBio. J.A. reports receiving personal fees for consulting from 23andme and from BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, grants from Genome BC, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, outside the submitted work. B.R.K. reports serving on medical advisory boards to Alexion, SpringWorks, Infixion, Recursion, and Healx. No other disclosures were reported.

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Editorial Note: This article is being published in multiple journals: Genetics in Medicine, Human Genetics and Genomics Advances, The American Journal of Human Genetics, Nature Genetics, and JAMA, published by Elsevier Inc, Springer Nature America Inc. and JAMA Network. The articles are identical except for minor stylistic and spelling differences in keeping with each journal’s style. Either citation can be used when citing this article.

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Feero, W.G., Steiner, R.D., Slavotinek, A. et al. Guidance on use of race, ethnicity, and geographic origin as proxies for genetic ancestry groups in biomedical publications. Nat Genet 56, 555–556 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01708-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01708-8

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