Computational research in the era of open access: Standards and best practices | The Curious Wavefunction, Scientific American Blog Network

"... New ways of doing science demand new standards In the last three decades or so, along with theory and experiment, modeling and simulation have become enshrined as the third leg in the methodology of science[1]. Although not as hallowed in its history as theory and experiment, modeling is now widely used to complement – and occasionally supplement – the results of theoretical and experimental investigations. As science has become both more complex and more multidisciplinary, it has been essential to resort to models to explain, understand and predict. Many of the most pressing and exciting problems in modern science, from understanding the brain to simulating biological networks to mapping the large-scale structure of the cosmos, involve complex, multifactorial phenomena that are not amenable to first-principles solutions. Analyzing such problems entails a judicious mix of rigorous theorizing, statistical analysis and empirical guesswork, so it is inevitable that model building will play an increasingly important role in deciphering the workings of these real-world physical, biological and engineered systems. As with any philosophy of doing science, modeling has to conform to the time-honored principles and constraints that have contributed to modern science’s enormous growth and practical utility over the last five hundred years or so. Foremost among these constraints is the accurate and reproducible communication of results which lies at the foundation of scientific inquiry. Accuracy is essential for understanding the mechanistic workings of a particular method and its causal connections to the observed result. Reproducibility is at the heart of the scientific method, a basic requirement without which it becomes impossible to trust and validate any scientific study. As modeling and simulation have become mainstays of modern scientific research, they have brought with them unique challenges pertaining to both these methodological aspects..."