Phys.org November 5, 2024
An international team of researchers (Canada, Australia, USA – Stanford University) conducted an international cross-sectional survey of biomedical researchers’ perspectives on the reproducibility of research building on the 2016 survey and provided a biomedical-specific and contemporary perspective on reproducibility. Using 400 journals indexed in MEDLINE, they extracted the author names and emails from all articles published between 2020 and 2021. Participants survey included perceptions about a reproducibility crisis, perceived causes of irreproducibility of research results, knowledge of funding and training for research on reproducibility, etc. The data showed that 72% of participants agreed there was a reproducibility crisis in biomedicine; the leading perceived cause of irreproducibility was a “pressure to publish”. Just 16% of participants indicated their institution had established procedures to enhance the reproducibility of biomedical research and 67% felt their institution valued new research over replication studies. Participants also reported few opportunities to obtain funding to attempt to reproduce a study. According to the researchers their results may be used to guide training and interventions to improve research reproducibility and to monitor rates of reproducibility over time. The findings are also relevant to policy makers and academic leadership looking to create incentives and research cultures that support reproducibility and value research quality… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Biomedical researchers’ perspectives on the reproducibility of research. Credit: PLOS Biology, November 5, 2024