Research Methods

A survey of researchers’ methods sharing practices and priorities

Missing or inaccessible information about the methods used in scientific research slows the pace of discovery and hampers reproducibility. Yet little is known about how, why, and under what conditions researchers share detailed methods information, …

An open investigation of the reproducibility of cancer biology research

It is widely believed that research that builds upon previously published findings has reproduced the original work. However, it is rare for researchers to perform or publish direct replications of existing results. The Reproducibility Project: …

Declaration of common standards for the preregistration of animal research—speeding up the scientific progress

Preregistration of studies is a recognized tool in clinical research to improve the quality and reporting of all gained results. In preclinical research, preregistration could boost the translation of published results into clinical breakthroughs. …

Effect of Population Heterogenization on the Reproducibility of Mouse Behavior: A Multi-Laboratory Study

In animal experiments, animals, husbandry and test procedures are traditionally standardized to maximize test sensitivity and minimize animal use, assuming that this will also guarantee reproducibility. However, by reducing within-experiment …

Impact of genetic background and experimental reproducibility on identifying chemical compounds with robust longevity effects

Limiting the debilitating consequences of ageing is a major medical challenge of our time. Robust pharmacological interventions that promote healthy ageing across diverse genetic backgrounds may engage conserved longevity pathways. Here we report …

Meta-assessment of bias in science

Numerous biases are believed to affect the scientific literature, but their actual prevalence across disciplines is unknown. To gain a comprehensive picture of the potential imprint of bias in science, we probed for the most commonly postulated …

Mitigating Illusory Results through Preregistration in Education

Like performance-enhancing drugs inflating apparent athletic achievements, several common social science practices contribute to the production of illusory results. In this article, we examine the processes that lead to illusory findings and describe …

Pre-results Review in Economics: Lessons Learned from Setting up Registered Reports

Hear from Andrew Foster, editor at the Journal of Development Economics, and Irenaeus Wolff, a guest editor for Experimental Economics, as they discuss their experiences with implementing the Registered Reports format, how it was received by authors, …

Questionable and Open Research Practices in Education Research

Discussions of how to improve research quality are predominant in a number of fields, including education. But how prevalent are the use of problematic practices and the improved practices meant to counter them? This baseline information will be a …

Questionable research practices among Italian research psychologists

A survey in the United States revealed that an alarmingly large percentage of university psychologists admitted having used questionable research practices that can contaminate the research literature with false positive and biased findings. We …