Can VST be called Log2 expression in a paper?

Question

[BioSci]

Hi,

My understanding is that VST normalized counts in DESeq2 is very similar to Log2 expression. That being said, in a publication, is it acceptable to just name my y axis Log2 expression, or is there a better way to name it?

Thank you

[ATpoint]

Just call it like that and mention in the figure legend that counts were obtained using the vst transformation from DESeq2. General rule for papers (to me) is that things are fine as long as you don't lie, don't do things against common conventions, no fraud and be transparent in methodology by clearly describing what you did. All that is critical here is that you point out the approximate scale (log2-like) so the reader can appreciate that steps on the y-axis (e.g. from 1 to 2) represents a ~ 2-fold change.