Topic: Errors in Science
by Andrea Repetto
10/25/2016
Proposed Actions
1) PUBLISH negative results!
2) Don’t publish bad papers!
3) PUBLISH experiments that attempt to reproduce important results!
Experiments with positive and negative results both should be held to a high standard; one that is higher than the positive results papers are currently being held (no reproducibility for example).
If the hypercompetitive environment cools down, this would give highly skilled scientists the time to properly review papers. Reviewing papers should be formally built into the structure of being a scientist; professors expected to review at least one or two papers per year, for example.
Optional Comments on the Problem
I’m sure we are all aware of the publication bias, and I know there has been some attention paid to trying to fix this problem (more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias). But this is the systematic destruction of one of the most basic tenets of science!!