{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,8]],"date-time":"2026-03-08T19:59:49Z","timestamp":1772999989206,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]],"date-time":"2021-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1634169600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100014440","name":"Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\u00f3n y Universidades","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RYC-2019-027537-I"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RYC-2019-027537-I"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100014440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovaci\u00f3n y Universidades","award":["DPI2017-82896-C2-2-R"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DPI2017-82896-C2-2-R"]}]},{"name":"CSIC","award":["PIE 202070E062"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIE 202070E062"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.ploscompbiol.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Comput Biol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A recent paper published in <jats:italic>PLOS Computational Biology<\/jats:italic> [1] introduces the Scaling Invariance Method (SIM) for analysing structural local identifiability and observability. These two properties define mathematically the possibility of determining the values of the parameters (identifiability) and states (observability) of a dynamic model by observing its output. In this note we warn that SIM considers scaling symmetries as the only possible cause of non-identifiability and non-observability. We show that other types of symmetries can cause the same problems without being detected by SIM, and that in those cases the method may lead one to conclude that the model is identifiable and observable when it is actually not.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1009032","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]],"date-time":"2021-10-14T17:24:04Z","timestamp":1634232244000},"page":"e1009032","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["On testing structural identifiability by a simple scaling method: Relying on scaling symmetries can be misleading"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7401-7380","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Alejandro F.","family":"Villaverde","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8740-825X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Gemma","family":"Massonis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]]},"reference":[{"issue":"11","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1008248","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1008248","article-title":"Testing structural identifiability by a simple scaling method","volume":"16","author":"M Castro","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLOS Computational Biology"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref002","volume-title":"Symmetry and integration methods for differential equations. vol. 154 of Applied Mathematical Sciences","author":"G Bluman","year":"2008"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref003","volume-title":"Symmetry analysis of differential equations: an introduction","author":"DJ Arrigo","year":"2015"},{"issue":"11","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2585","DOI":"10.1016\/j.automatica.2009.07.009","article-title":"Structural identifiability analysis via symmetries of differential equations","volume":"45","author":"JW Yates","year":"2009","journal-title":"Automatica"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1016\/0025-5564(89)90024-2","article-title":"Similarity transformation approach to identifiability analysis of nonlinear compartmental models","volume":"93","author":"S Vajda","year":"1989","journal-title":"Mathematical Biosciences"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref006","volume-title":"Elementary linear algebra","author":"R Larson","year":"2016"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mbs.2012.04.005","article-title":"Minimal output sets for identifiability","volume":"239","author":"M Anguelova","year":"2012","journal-title":"Mathematical Biosciences"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"012920","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.92.012920","article-title":"Higher-order Lie symmetries in identifiability and predictability analysis of dynamic models","volume":"92","author":"B Merkt","year":"2015","journal-title":"Physical Review E"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.3390\/sym12030469","article-title":"Finding and breaking Lie symmetries: implications for structural identifiability and observability in biological modelling","volume":"12","author":"G Massonis","year":"2020","journal-title":"Symmetry"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20190043","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2019.0043","article-title":"Full observability and estimation of unknown inputs, states, and parameters of nonlinear biological models","volume":"16","author":"AF Villaverde","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of the Royal Society Interface"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsc.2013.11.002","article-title":"Identifiable reparametrizations of linear compartment models","volume":"63","author":"N Meshkat","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Symbolic Computation"},{"issue":"10","key":"pcbi.1009032.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0110261","article-title":"On finding and using identifiable parameter combinations in nonlinear dynamic systems biology models and COMBOS: a novel web implementation","volume":"9","author":"N Meshkat","year":"2014","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pcbi.1009032.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Saccomani M, Bellu G, Audoly S, D\u2019Angi\u00f2 L. 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