Research Analysis & Policy

Meta-Research: Methods

Updated February 8, 2019 Curated Collections

Meta-research, or the scientific study of research practices, aims to characterize existing standards and ultimately improve the quality and reliability of scientific research. We collect here meta-research articles across PLOS. This section within the larger Meta-Research Collection focuses on Methods.

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Methods
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Methods

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10.1371/journal.pbio.3000125

PLOS Biology Developing a modern data workflow for regularly updated data
January 29, 2019 Glenda M. Yenni, Erica M. Christensen, Ellen K. Bledsoe, Sarah R. Supp, Renata M. Diaz, Ethan P. White, S. K. Morgan Ernest
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10.1371/journal.pbio.3000070

PLOS Biology Analysis validation has been neglected in the Age of Reproducibility
December 10, 2018 Kathleen E. Lotterhos, Jason H. Moore, Ann E. Stapleton
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Rene Schwietzke, Flikr

PLOS Biology Running in the wheel: Defining individual severity levels in mice
October 18, 2018 Christine Häger, Lydia M. Keubler, Steven R. Talbot, Svenja Biernot, Nora Weegh, Stephanie Buchheister, Manuela Buettner, Silke Glage, André Bleich
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2005019

PLOS Biology Laboratory mouse housing conditions can be improved using common environmental enrichment without compromising data
April 16, 2018 Viola André, Christine Gau, Angelika Scheideler, Juan A. Aguilar-Pimentel, Oana V. Amarie, Lore Becker, Lillian Garrett, Wolfgang Hans, Sabine M. Hölter, Dirk Janik, Kristin Moreth, Frauke Neff, Manuela Östereicher, Ildiko Racz, Birgit Rathkolb, Jan Rozman, Raffi Bekeredjian, Jochen Graw, Martin Klingenspor, Thomas Klopstock, Markus Ollert, Carsten Schmidt-Weber, Eckhard Wolf, Wolfgang Wurst, Valérie Gailus-Durner, Markus Brielmeier, Helmut Fuchs, Martin Hrabé de Angelis
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2005282

PLOS Biology What exactly is ‘N’ in cell culture and animal experiments?
April 4, 2018 Stanley E. Lazic, Charlie J. Clarke-Williams, Marcus R. Munafò
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Anna Miska-Alvarez

PLOS Biology Meta-research: Why research on research matters
March 13, 2018 John P. A. Ioannidis
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2005413

PLOS Biology Reproducible preclinical research—Is embracing variability the answer?
March 5, 2018 Natasha A. Karp
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2003693

PLOS Biology Reproducibility of preclinical animal research improves with heterogeneity of study samples
February 22, 2018 Bernhard Voelkl, Lucile Vogt, Emily S. Sena, Hanno Würbel
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2003217

PLOS Biology Rethinking 3R strategies: Digging deeper into AnimalTestInfo promotes transparency in in vivo biomedical research
December 14, 2017 Bettina Bert, Antje Dörendahl, Nora Leich, Julia Vietze, Matthias Steinfath, Justyna Chmielewska, Andreas Hensel, Barbara Grune, Gilbert Schönfelder
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2003779

PLOS Biology The Experimental Design Assistant
September 28, 2017 Nathalie Percie du Sert, Ian Bamsey, Simon T. Bate, Manuel Berdoy, Robin A. Clark, Innes Cuthill, Derek Fry, Natasha A. Karp, Malcolm Macleod, Lawrence Moon, S. Clare Stanford, Brian Lings
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Flickr user josefstuefer

PLOS Biology ‘Spin’ in published biomedical literature: A methodological systematic review
September 11, 2017 Kellia Chiu, Quinn Grundy, Lisa Bero
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2002925

PLOS Biology The Genomic Observatories Metadatabase (GeOMe): A new repository for field and sampling event metadata associated with genetic samples
August 3, 2017 John Deck, Michelle R. Gaither, Rodney Ewing, Christopher E. Bird, Neil Davies, Christopher Meyer, Cynthia Riginos, Robert J. Toonen, Eric D. Crandall
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Flickr user James Cridland

PLOS Biology The credibility crisis in research: Can economics tools help?
April 26, 2017 Thomas Gall, John P. A. Ioannidis, Zacharias Maniadis
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2001438

PLOS Biology The need for a worldwide consensus for cell line authentication: Experience implementing a mandatory requirement at the International Journal of Cancer
April 17, 2017 Norbert E. Fusenig, Amanda Capes-Davis, Franca Bianchini, Sherryl Sundell, Peter Lichter
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Understand Animal Research, Flickr

PLOS Biology Increasing efficiency of preclinical research by group sequential designs
March 10, 2017 Konrad Neumann, Ulrike Grittner, Sophie K. Piper, Andre Rex, Oscar Florez-Vargas, George Karystianis, Alice Schneider, Ian Wellwood, Bob Siegerink, John P. A. Ioannidis, Jonathan Kimmelman, Ulrich Dirnagl
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10.1371/journal.pbio.2000797

PLOS Biology Empirical assessment of published effect sizes and power in the recent cognitive neuroscience and psychology literature
March 2, 2017 Denes Szucs, John P. A. Ioannidis
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Flickr users Health Gauge and Sean MacEntee

PLOS Biology Health disparities and clinical trial recruitment: Is there a duty to tweet?
March 1, 2017 Arthur Caplan, Phoebe Friesen
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fdecomite

PLOS ONE Measuring the Prevalence of Problematic Respondent Behaviors among MTurk, Campus, and Community Participants
June 28, 2016 Elizabeth A. Necka, Stephanie Cacioppo, Greg J. Norman, John T. Cacioppo
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PLOS

PLOS Computational Biology Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice
June 9, 2016 Robert E. Kass, Brian S. Caffo, Marie Davidian, Xiao-Li Meng, Bin Yu, Nancy Reid
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10.1371/journal.pone.0152719

PLOS ONE Statistically Controlling for Confounding Constructs Is Harder than You Think
March 31, 2016 Jacob Westfall, Tal Yarkoni
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fdecomite

PLOS ONE Conservative Tests under Satisficing Models of Publication Bias
February 22, 2016 Justin McCrary, Daniele Fanelli, Garret Christensen
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10.1371/journal.pone.0149144

PLOS ONE p-Curve and p-Hacking in Observational Research
February 17, 2016 Stephan B. Bruns, John P. A. Ioannidis
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10.1371/journal.pbio.1002331

PLOS Biology Where Have All the Rodents Gone? The Effects of Attrition in Experimental Research on Cancer and Stroke
January 4, 2016 Constance Holman, Sophie K. Piper, Ulrike Grittner, Andreas Antonios Diamantaras, Jonathan Kimmelman, Bob Siegerink, Ulrich Dirnagl
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10.1371/journal.pone.0005738

PLOS ONE How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data
May 29, 2009 Daniele Fanelli
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10.1371/journal.pone.0007824

PLOS ONE Survey of the Quality of Experimental Design, Statistical Analysis and Reporting of Research Using Animals
November 30, 2009 Carol Kilkenny, Nick Parsons, Ed Kadyszewski, Michael F. W. Festing, Innes C. Cuthill, Derek Fry, Jane Hutton, Douglas G. Altman
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10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124

PLOS Medicine Why Most Published Research Findings Are False
August 30, 2005 John P. A. Ioannidis

From the Web

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Reddit/PLOS

Reddit Elevated average risk of bias in work from leading institutions or work published in high-impact factor journals – AMA
January 13, 2016 Malcolm Macleod, David Howells
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118118485@N05

Biologue Meta-Research: Getting the Most Out of Research
January 4, 2016 Roli Roberts
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Reddit/PLOS

Reddit Research Reproducibility – AMA
October 21, 2015 John Ioannidis, Robert M. Kaplan
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Reddit/PLOS

Reddit Why publishing everything is more effective than just publishing significant findings – AMA
May 27, 2015 Jelte Wicherts
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Reddit/PLOS

Reddit “p-hacking” in science publications – AMA
May 20, 2015 Megan Head
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PLOS

Biologue Metrics and Impact – Looking Beyond Research Articles
March 2, 2015 Stavroula Kousta