{"term":{"id":"08017","title":"critical value","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - critical value","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.08017","code":"08017","status":"current","synonym":"<em>synonyms<\/em>: critical level, decision level","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"Measured quantity value for a quantity of a component in a material, above which the component is declared to be present.","notes":{"1":"The critical value is usually considered to be a characteristic of a particular measurement procedure performed in a particular laboratory.","2":"In some European legislations, the term \"decision limit\" (denoted as CCα) is used for the concept 'critical value'.","3":"The quantity measured is usually a mass fraction or a concentration but can also be, for example, a mass or an amount of substance.","4":"The critical value is chosen to give a probability α (usually 0.05) of a measured quantity value exceeding the critical value when the component is absent.","5":"The detection decision is made by comparing a measured quantity value with the critical value.","6":"Another important concept in characterizing the capability of detection of measurement procedures is the limit of detection."},"links":[{"term":"capability","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/\/terms\/view\/08061"},{"term":"measurement procedure","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/\/terms\/view\/08028"}],"sources":["PAC, 2021, 93, 997. 'Metrological and quality concepts in analytical chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 1005 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/pac-2019-0819)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08017\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08017\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08017\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'critical value' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.08017","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-04-18T20:57:15+00:00"}}