CASAXPS is the most widely used fitting program for XPS data analysis.
The Al Kα source is the most widely used x-ray source for XPS data collection. The Shirley background is the most widely used background in XPS peak fitting. Each paper was evaluated to determine whether the authors had reported (percentages of the papers properly providing the information are given in parentheses) the spectrometer (66%), fitting software (15%), x-ray source (40%), pass energy (10%), spot size (5%), synthetic peak shapes in fits (10%), backgrounds in fits (10%), whether the XPS data are shown in the main body of the paper or in the supporting information (or both), and whether fitted or unfitted spectra were shown (80% of published spectra are fit). The information for this study was obtained from papers published in three high-quality journals over a six-month period in 2019 and throughout 2021. It is a systematic examination of the adequacy of reporting of information (metadata) necessary to understand x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data collection and data analysis in the scientific literature. This study was motivated by earlier observations.
