Interesting poll - but I would like to clear up one misconception.
There is only ONE GUM, available from two primary sources (below).
Any document other than those two is only an interpretation of the original. Only the actual standard can be used for conformance requirements, not an interpretive document.
The official GUM documents are:
ISO/IEC Guide 98-3:2008,
Uncertainty of measurement - Part 3: Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM:1995). Cost CHF 208,00 (approximately $US 210.00). Available from
ISO - International Organization for Standardization or from your national standards organization (ANSI in the USA).
From the abstract: "ISO/IEC Guide 98-3:2008 is a reissue of the 1995 version of the Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM), with minor corrections."
The catalog page also has a note that this standard is based on JCGM 100 (see below).
[Note: "CHF" is the currency label for Swiss Francs.]
JCGM 100:2008,
GUM: Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM 1995 with minor corrections).
FREE. Available from
BIPM - guides (the VIM is also available here, at the same "price".)
Note the priority of these documents: ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 "is based on" JCGM 100:2008, which means that the (free) JCGM document is the actual standard and the ISO/IEC guide ($$$) is a copy of the standard. Either way, they are both "GUM:1995 with minor corrections".
Again, all of the other documents listed in the poll are interpretations of how to apply the standard, and therefore are not valid references for conformance requirements. If I am assessing your lab, I expect to see one of the two offical versions - if you only have NIST TN-1297 or only UKAS M3003, that is
not sufficient.
This is not to say that there is anything necessarily "wrong" with the other listed documents. They definitely have their uses and are appropriate - in addition to an actual copy of the actual standard - in the intended environments.
- Each accreditation body (A2LA and UKAS were specifically mentioned in the poll; there are five others in the USA and many more worldwide) have their own requirements as a supplement to ISO/IEC 17025. If you want to become accredited, you had better understand and conform to the interpretations and supplemental requirements of your AB!
- UKAS M3003 is very useful not only for its interpretations but also for the abundance of worked-out examples.
- NIST TN-1297 is their interpretation of (an earlier version of) the GUM intended for their own internal use.
- EURACHEM/CITAC Guide CG-4 (listed as QUAM 2000-1) is an interpretation of the GUM for the analytical chemistry field.
- The IAEA document is interpretation of the GUM for the nuclear industry.
- And so on.
Again, only JCGM 100:2008 and ISO/IEC Guide 98-3:2008 are the official versions of the GUM. You can use either, and must have a copy of one of them if you are - or want to be - accredited. Which one you use is up to you; for me, free is better than $210.
Graeme