Alicia Maroto

Estimating uncertainty has become one of the most important metrological concepts in analytical science over the last 15 years to such an extent that some authors consider a result useless or invalid unless it is accompanied with an uncertainty statement. This article describes how to estimate uncertainty in chromatographic analysis and how laboratories can calculate it using data from the method validation process.

The assessment of accuracy, which involves the estimation of precision and the determination of trueness, refers to the process of evaluating whether the results provided by analytical methods are close to accepted reference values. The different references available in chromatographic analysis and useful guidelines to perform such a comparison are described.