Naming files can quickly get out of control (see comic below). Often these naming conventions may only be understandable to the person who created the file, regardless of the fact that research is a collaborative activity not only among lab members, but also among labs. Transferring files from one researcher to another is very important for the continuation of scientific research, even if its just to the successor of a project. Proper naming convention with sufficient metadata can help ease the burden of inheriting data and sorting through a plethora of naming styles.
There does not seem to be one standard way to name files, but there are common tips to help keep the files organized. The first recommendation is to keep the naming convention consistent. Also, not to use any special characters except for hyphens or underscores. Additionally, spaces should not be used in naming files since these are sometimes difficult to manage when importing them into a programming language. Dating the file can help keep track of when the file was created, but the international date convention should be used which is year-month-day or YYYY-MM-DD (or YYYYMMDD or YYYY_MM_DD, but remain consistent). When the files are sorted in the folder then they will appear in the order of their creation. Three pieces of information are recommended for the file name such as experiment number, date, location, etc. Abbreviations can be used but they should be documented.
Conventions should be decided as a group to help maintain consistency across researchers within a lab. Also, these conventions should be established before you begin to collect data.
Briney, K., Coates, H. & Goben, A. Foundational Practices of Research Data Management. Research Ideas and Outcomes 6, e56508 (2020).
Use metadata and documentation to explain your file naming convention. Use README files to explain acronyms or other abbreviations so that others may be able to understand your files.
For documents such as manuscripts, presentations, or grant applications, you can version the file by adding "_v##" such as "cancer_manuscript_v2.doc". If you date the document, then you won't need the versioning.
Remember collected data should NEVER be versioned or changed once it is collected. Analyze files in another file or folder directory.
