Authorship in science: room to improve
Tag Archives: pressure to publish
Exploring the metrics and incentives of scientific productivity
The pressure to publish and current incentives that reward highly-cited discoveries leads to research findings that are not reproducible and inadvertently results in the natural selection of bad science. It is difficult to encourage scientists to take effort in conducting reproducible and rigorous research without better incentives. What kinds of metrics and incentives might reward scientists for conducting sound science?
Read moreCultural factors contribute to poor reproducibility in the biomedical sciences
In two previous post (1, 2), I highlighted a symposium that was held to improve the reproducibility of biomedical research. The published report includes a discussion on cultural factors that have contributed to the high prevalence of irreproducible research. Culture and nature of science Whether or not the questionable research practices described in the previous post are the result of
Read moreCauses of poor reproducibility in biomedical research
In a previous post, I highlighted a symposium that was held to improve the reproducibility of biomedical research. The published report includes a description of the causes and factors associated with poor reproducibility; these are summarized below. Key causes and factors linked to poor reproducibility False discovery rate and small sample sizes. The false discovery rate is the expected proportion
Read moreThe natural selection of bad science: a second perspective
Note. This is a semi-independent summary of the same paper that Marty wrote about in the post here. I wrote it to present a different perspective on an otherwise fascinating idea. There is an increasing awareness and deep concern that most scientific findings are not reliable or valid. Many key researchers and research groups have called for (1) greater transparency
Read moreThe natural selection of bad science
As stated in a recent post, the majority of scientific findings are likely false (Ioannidis, 2005). Although there are multiple reasons for this, it has been suggested that the pressure to publish is the driving incentive behind scientists adopting poor research practices that lead to false findings. In a recent paper, Smaldino & McElreath (2016) argue that the pressure to
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Scientifically Sound 