Last month, researchers released a new initiative that would allow scientists to pay to have their data validated by an independent source before or after publication. Known as the Reproducibility Initiative (RI), the program was hailed by many in the scientific community as an answer to the growing number of irreproducible experiments and retractions. But will it solve the problem?
The RI plans to match researchers with independent third parties to repeat their experiments, then gives scientists the option of publishing those validation studies along with the original experiments in PLOS ONE. The initiative’s founders claim that such authentication will identify and commend researchers who produce high-quality, reproducible research, while helping to suppress the increasing numbers of retractions.
But Kent Anderson, chief executive officer and publisher of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, doesn’t believe that the initiative is up to the task. On the blog The Scholarly Kitchen, ...
