Reproducibility and reliability of biomedical research

Summary (excerpts of the report)

Recent reports in both the general and scientific media show there is increasing concern within the biomedical research community about the lack of reproducibility of key research findings. If too many results are irreproducible, it could hinder scientific progress, delay translation into clinical applications and waste valuable resource. It also threatens the reputation of biomedical science and the public’s trust in its findings. To explore how to improve and optimise the reproducibility of biomedical research, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Wellcome Trust held a small symposium in April 2015.

…

There are a number of measures that might improve reproducibility (which are also represented in Figure 1), such as:
– Greater openness and transparency – in terms of both methods and data, including publication of
null or negative results.
– Better use of input and advice from other experts, for example through collaboration on projects, or on parts of projects.
– Reporting guidelines to help deliver publications that contain the right sort of information to allow other researchers to reproduce results.
– Post-publication peer review to encourage continued appraisal of previous research, which may in turn help improve future research.
– Pre-registration of protocols and plans for analysis to counteract some of the practices that undermine
reproducibility in certain fields, such as the post-hoc cherry-picking of data and analyses for publication.
– Better use of standards and quality control measures, and increased use of automation in some cases.

…