[en] A new data reduction scheme is presented for time-of-flight data collected in neutron Compton scattering experiments with the aim of obtaining the scattering intensities. The method proposed is a single number approach as it makes use of the count rates detected in the individual time-of-flight channels. The most convenient seems to be the variant of the method where time-of-flight channels are chosen corresponding to centers of recoil peaks of individual masses. With such a choice of time-of-flight channels, the method presented is more robust against unwanted background signals and noise than the method widely used in NCS studies based on fitting entire time-of-flight band shapes in the framework of the convolution approximation. Moreover, it should perform better than the model-free Dorner method as it does not require the numerical integration of the signal, which is also sensitive to baseline and noise. As an example of the performance of the new method, polyethylene data are treated and compared to results obtained previously using conventional data reduction and the model-free method proposed by Dorner. It is shown that all three data reduction schemes lead to the same results for the scattering intensities of protons in polyethylene, thus strengthening the conclusion about the anomalous scattering cross-section of protons in this substance. In the future the new data reduction scheme can be used to treat the data from other experiments where the conventional NCS data treatment and/or Dorner method fail due to noise and/or unwanted background signals present in the time-of-flight spectra