Data pertaining to the publication "Can journal guidelines improve the reporting of antibody validation?". The project investigates the quality of antibody validation information provided in 120 biomedical publications and whether the introduction of journal validation guidelines improved the quality of this information. The data covers 60 publications before introduction of guidelines, and 60 after introduction, half of which from journals with guidelines. The quality of antibody validation information was coded by one author ("Antibody validation information data set.xlsx"), with a sample checked for interrater reliability by another ("Interrater reliability data set.xlsx"). Effects of journal guidelines introduction were tested statistically with a pseudo-experimental design. (Code for the statistical package R is provided.) The data package also includes detailed explanation of how coding was performed ("Coding protocol.docx") and an explanation of these files and data labels ("Data dictionary.docx").