First of its kind initiative launched to explore reproducibility and replication across highly selective journal
Nature Human Behavior and the Institute for Replication drive forward best practice in open science via partnership to reproduce and replicate research
London | Berlin | New York, 25 January 2024
Nature Human Behaviour (NHB), published by Springer Nature, and the Institute for Replication have launched a large-scale initiative to reproduce and replicate (1) research published in the highly selective multi-disciplinary journal. In a first of its kind for a highly selective multidisciplinary journal, the initiative aims to explore how to make reproduction and replication commonplace in the social sciences, and drive forward sustainable open research practices for such titles.
Up to €26 billion in Europe, and up to $28bn in the US (2) is wasted due to unnecessary duplication of research because of a lack of awareness of existing work and negative results. Having access to all elements of research, code, data, methods etc, and being able to replicate and reproduce studies is critical, not only in supporting efficiency and building on scientific advancement, but also to build trust in science.
Speaking of the initiative Stavroula Kousta, Editor-in Chief of Nature Human Behaviour, said:
“Although the value of reproduction and replication is much better recognised now than at the beginning of the millennium, because studies published in highly selective multidisciplinary journals tend to be larger in scale and harder to replicate, a collaboration of this kind and scale in this context is unprecedented. We hope that this initiative and its outputs will contribute to strengthening the credibility of research, promote the value and visibility of reproduction and replication efforts, and lead to increased transparency and rigour.”
Springer Nature is committed to enabling a more open ecosystem for all that accelerates solutions to the world's most urgent challenges. The publisher has been at the forefront of supporting open science practices: via its promotion of early sharing of papers as preprints (InReview); its leading protocols platform and acquisition of protocols.io; its forward looking policies around open access, open data and code which have informed industry standards; and via its numerous partnerships to better understand researcher needs within this space. This partnership is the latest example of that forward looking commitment.
The study will include research published in NHB from 2023 onwards. The journal will not have oversight of the papers that are selected for the project, but it will work with the Institute for Replication and all authors to facilitate the process of data and code sharing. Results of the initiative will be available in 2025.
A detailed overview of the initiative and editorial can be read here and here, and more on the publisher’s wider commitment to open science and open research practice can be found here.
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(1) Reproducibility refers to the ability to repeat experiments with the same data. Replicability refers to the ability to use the same research methods but different data to redo research.
(2) Research published in PLoS Biology put the cost of flawed biomedical research in the US at $28bn - the amount scientists spend yearly on basic biomedical research that cannot be repeated successfully.
Launched in January 2017, Nature Human Behaviour is an online-only monthly journal dedicated to the best research into human behaviour from across the social and natural sciences. All editorial decisions are made by a team of full-time professional editors. https://www.nature.com/nathumbehav/
For over 180 years Springer Nature has been advancing discovery by providing the best possible service to the whole research community. We help researchers uncover new ideas, make sure all the research we publish is significant, robust and stands up to objective scrutiny, that it reaches all relevant audiences in the best possible format, and can be discovered, accessed, used, re-used and shared. We support librarians and institutions with innovations in technology and data; and provide quality publishing support to societies.
As a research publisher, Springer Nature is home to trusted brands including Springer, Nature Portfolio, BMC, Palgrave Macmillan and Scientific American. For more information, please visit springernature.com and @SpringerNature
The Institute for Replication (I4R) works to improve the credibility of science by systematically reproducing and replicating research findings in leading academic journals. Our primary goal is to promote and generate reproductions and replications. Reproductions and replications may be achieved using the same or different data and procedures/codes. While I4R is not a journal, we have an editorial board which actively recruits and selects replicators. We currently have an editorial board for economics and finance, and for political science.
Theodore HibbertGreaves | Corporate Affairs | Springer Nature
theodore.hibbertgreaves@springernature.com
