Rigor Champions and Resources

Abstract

Efforts to Instill the Fundamental Principles of Rigorous ResearchRigorous experimental procedures and transparent reporting of research results are vital to the continued success of the biomedical enterprise at both the preclinical and the clinical levels; therefore, NINDS convened major stakeholders in October 2018 to discuss how best to encourage rigorous biomedical research practices. The attendees discussed potential improvements to current training resources meant to instill the principles of rigorous research in current and future scientists, ideal attributes of a potential new educational resource, and cultural factors needed to ensure the success of such training. Please see the event website for more information about this workshop, including video recordings of the discussion, or the recent publication summarizing the workshop.Rigor ChampionsAs described in this publication, enthusiastic individuals (“champions”) who want to drive improvements in rigorous research practices, transparent reporting, and comprehensive education may come from all career stages and sectors, including undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers, educators, institutional leaders, journal editors, scientific societies, private industry, and funders. We encouraged champions to organize themselves into intra- and inter-institutional communities to effect change within and across scientific institutions. These communities can then share resources and best practices, propose changes to current training and research infrastructure, build new tools to support better research practices, and support rigorous research on a daily basis.If you are interested learning more, you can join this grassroots online workspace or email us at RigorChampions@nih.gov.Rigor ResourcesIn order to understand the current landscape of training in the principles of rigorous research, NINDS is gathering a list of public resources that are, or can be made, freely accessible to the scientific community and beyond. We hope that compiling these resources will help identify gaps in training and stimulate discussion about proposed improvements and the building of new resources that facilitate training in transparency and other rigorous research practices. Please peruse the resources compiled thus far below, and contact us at RigorChampions@nih.gov to let us know about other potential resources.NINDS does not endorse any of these resources and leaves it to the scientific community to judge their quality.Resources TableCategories of resources listed in the table include Books and Articles, Guidelines and Protocols, Organizations and Training Programs, Software and Other Digital Resources, and Videos and Courses.