Achieving reproducibility through open publication and discussion | Discussions – F1000 Research

"Today, we are very excited to unveil the Preclinical Reproducibility and Robustness channel, a new dedicated venue for life scientists to publish and discuss confirmatory and non-confirmatory research results. We are also delighted to have this new channel championed by former Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine and F1000 International Advisory Board member, Bruce Alberts and Amgen’s Senior Vice President for Research, Sasha Kamb. See the press release. It’s no secret that reproducibility is an ongoing concern in the life sciences. Experimental results are published that later turn out to be impossible to reproduce by other groups, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish reproducible from irreproducible work. This issue is something F1000Research, Bruce and Sasha feel strongly about; their excellent editorial on the matter is a must read. After much thought about how to challenge the reproducibility issue, we decided that, at its core, the solution needs to be controlled and driven by the scientific community and has to perpetuate a self-regulating culture. We believe that the key to achieving such a solution is to change how we currently deal with reporting confirming and disconfirming studies and develop a system to help improve the self-correcting nature of science. It’s very reassuring that there has been action by funders to provide Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research and also encouraging to see publishers getting behind initiatives such as the TOP guidelines. However, to tackle the issue head-on, we must also leverage a community effort to underpin the problems that are felt on the ground by practising scientists. The only way to achieve this is through open and transparent publication and discussion; and that’s where F1000Research comes in ..."