Results-Free

In the academy and well beyond, the problem of null results has become quite significant. Indeed, discussions of null results have made their way as far as TV commentator John Oliver’s recent discussion of science in which he poignantly notes that people generally do not like to hear about null results.

Academia has been abuzz in recent years with new initiatives focusing on research transparency, replication and reproducibility of research. Notable in this regard are the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences, and the Reproducibility Initiative which PLOS and Science Exchange are involved, but there are many others. Psychology and political science have had a number of new initiatives that are shaking up the scientific research and publication process.