The term reproducible research was first proposed by Jon Claerbout at Stanford University and refers to the idea that the ultimate product of research is the paper along with the full computational environment used to produce the results in the paper such as the code, data, etc. necessary for reproduction of the results and building upon the research.
In 2012, a study found that 47 out of 53 medical research papers on the subject of cancer were irreproducible.
John P. A. Ioannidis wrote:
- While currently there is unilateral emphasis on "first" discoveries, there should be as much emphasis on replication of discoveries."
While repeatability of scientific experiments is desirable, it is not considered necessary to establish the scientific validity of a theory. For example, the cloning of animals is difficult to repeat, but has been reproduced by various teams working independently, and is a well established research domain. One failed cloning does not mean that the theory is wrong or unscientific. Repeatability is often low in protosciences.
Read more about this topic: Reproducibility
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