Research Analysis & Policy

The Missing Pieces: A Collection of Negative, Null and Inconclusive Results

Updated May 10, 2021 Partnered Collections, Special Issues

The publication of negative, null and inconclusive results is important to provide scientists with balanced information and avoid the duplication of efforts testing similar hypotheses, which waste valuable time and research resources in the process. PLOS ONE considers all work that makes a contribution to the field, independent of impact. This includes negative findings which are valuable to the community in cases where the result is illuminating in the context of previous work.

Image Credit: Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

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From the Blogs

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Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

PLOS Collections Blog Positively Negative: A New PLOS ONE Collection focusing on Negative, Null and Inconclusive Results
February 25, 2015 Jennifer Horsley, Sarah Wade, Meg Byrne

Research

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Fig 1. Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) sampling locations across the equatorial Indian Ocean. by Artetxe-Arrate et al., CC BY 4.0

PLOS ONE Otolith chemical fingerprints of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) in the Indian Ocean: First insights into stock structure delineation
March 29, 2021 Iraide Artetxe-Arrate, Igaratza Fraile, Jessica Farley, Audrey M. Darnaude, Naomi Clear, Naiara Rodríguez-Ezpeleta, David L. Dettman, Christophe Pécheyran, Iñigo Krug, Anaïs Médieu, Mohamed Ahusan, Craig Proctor, Asep Priatna, Pratiwi Lestari, Campbell Davies, Francis Marsac, Hilario Murua

The chemical composition of otoliths (earbones) can provide valuable information about stock structure and connectivity patterns among…
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10.1371/journal.pone.0235183

PLOS ONE ZBTB38 is dispensable for antibody responses
September 21, 2020 Rachel Wong, Deepta Bhattacharya
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10.1371/journal.pone.0234500

PLOS ONE Attentional efficiency does not explain the mental state × domain effect
June 15, 2020 Joseph Sweetman, George A. Newman
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10.1371/journal.pone.0231498

PLOS ONE Priming exposures to lipopolysaccharides do not affect the induction of Polycomb target genes upon re-exposure
April 15, 2020 Marco Geigges, Geethika Arekatla, Renato Paro
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10.1371/journal.pone.0226222

PLOS ONE A hierarchical loss and its problems when classifying non-hierarchically
December 19, 2019 Cinna Wu, Yann LeCun, Mark Tygert
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10.1371/journal.pone.0210238

PLOS ONE Examining the ‘cosmetics placebo effect’
January 10, 2019 Carlota Batres, Sarah S. Kramer, Caroline G. DeAngelis, Richard Russell
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10.1371/journal.pone.0208753

PLOS ONE Investigating epigenetic effects of activation-induced deaminase in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
December 20, 2018 Maria Schubert, Hubert Hackl, Franz Josef Gassner, Richard Greil, Roland Geisberger
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10.1371/journal.pone.0208233

PLOS ONE The effects of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt on the diagnosis of hepatocellular cancer
December 28, 2018 Katherine Wong, Katharine Ozeki, Allison Kwong, Bhavik N. Patel, Paul Kwo
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10.1371/journal.pone.0132382

PLOS ONE Likelihood of Null Effects of Large NHLBI Clinical Trials Has Increased over Time
August 5, 2015 Robert Kaplan, Veronica Irvin
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10.1371/journal.pone.0198291

PLOS ONE Binding of EphrinA5 to RET receptor tyrosine kinase: An in vitro study
June 11, 2018 Yixin Liu, Heidi Kaljunen, Ana Pavić, Tuulia Saarenpää, Juha P. Himanen, Dimitar B. Nikolov, Adrian Goldman
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10.1371/journal.pone.0195739

PLOS ONE Can a single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation targeted to the motor cortex interrupt pain processing?
April 9, 2018 Lee-Bareket Kisler, Ilan Gurion, Yelena Granovsky, Alon Sinai, Elliot Sprecher, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Irit Weissman-Fogel
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10.1371/journal.pone.0193740

PLOS ONE The use of the vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP) in the rat retina
March 13, 2018 Nilisha Fernando, Riccardo Natoli, Tanja Racic, Yvette Wooff, Jan Provis, Krisztina Valter
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10.1371/journal.pone.0187827

PLOS ONE Screening for the presence of mcr-1/mcr-2 genes in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli recovered from a major produce-production region in California
November 8, 2017 Daniela Mavrici, Jaszemyn C. Yambao, Bertram G. Lee, Beatriz Quiñones, Xiaohua He
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10.1371/journal.pone.0181885

PLOS ONE Target specificity, in vivo pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of the putative STAT3 inhibitor LY5 in osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma
July 27, 2017 Peter Y. Yu, Heather L. Gardner, Ryan Roberts, Hakan Cam, Seethalakshmi Hariharan, Ling Ren, Amy K. LeBlanc, Hui Xiao, Jiayuh Lin, Denis C. Guttridge, Xiaokui Mo, Chad E. Bennett, Christopher C. Coss, Yonghua Ling, Mitch A. Phelps, Peter Houghton, Cheryl A. London
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10.1371/journal.pone.0189408

PLOS ONE Lack of association between serum syndecan-4, myocardial fibrosis and ventricular dysfunction in subjects with chronic Chagas disease
December 12, 2017 Ticiana Ferreira Larocca, Carolina Thé Macêdo, Márcia Noya-Rabelo, Luís Cláudio Lemos Correia, Moisés Imbassahy Moreira, Alessandra Carvalho Caldas, Jorge Andion Torreão, Bruno Solano de Freitas Souza, Juliana Fraga Vasconcelos, Alexandre Schaer Carvalho da Silva, Ricardo Ribeiro dos Santos, Milena Botelho Pereira Soares
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10.1371/journal.pone.0167767

PLOS ONE Morphology and Hydraulic Architecture of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Syrah and Torrontés Riojano Plants Are Unaffected by Variations in Red to Far-Red Ratio
December 2, 2016 Carina Verónica González, María Florencia Jofré, Hernán F. Vila, Markus Stoffel, Rubén Bottini, Carla Valeria Giordano
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10.1371/journal.pone.0157740

PLOS ONE Identification of the Single Immunodominant Region of the Native Human CC Chemokine Receptor 6 Recognized by Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies
June 23, 2016 Karim Dorgham, Cécile Dejou, Christophe Piesse, Guy Gorochov, Jérôme Pène, Hans Yssel
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Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

PLOS ONE Do self-reported stress and depressive symptoms effect endothelial function in healthy youth? The LOOK longitudinal study
April 23, 2018 Lisa S. Olive, Walter P. Abhayaratna, Don Byrne, Alice Richardson, Richard D. Telford
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10.1371/journal.pone.0189570

PLOS ONE An inconclusive study comparing the effect of concrete and abstract descriptions of belief-inconsistent information
February 15, 2018 Katherine A. Collins, Richard Clément
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10.1371/journal.pone.0168541

PLOS ONE Dexrazoxane Shows No Protective Effect in the Acute Phase of Reperfusion during Myocardial Infarction in Pigs
December 21, 2016 Pranitha Kamat, Stijn Vandenberghe, Stephan Christen, Anjan K. Bongoni, Bernhard Meier, Ahmed A. Khattab, Robert Rieben
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10.1371/journal.pone.0150501

PLOS ONE Six Serum miRNAs Fail to Validate as Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 Biomarkers
February 26, 2016 Juan M. Fernandez-Costa, Beatriz Llamusi, Ariadna Bargiela, Miren Zulaica, M. Carmen Alvarez-Abril, Manuel Perez-Alonso, Adolfo Lopez de Munain, Arturo Lopez-Castel, Ruben Artero
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10.1371/journal.pone.0138343

PLOS ONE A Pilot Study of IL2 in Drug-Resistant Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome
September 28, 2015 Alice Bonanni, Roberta Bertelli, Roberta Rossi, Maurizio Bruschi, Armando Di Donato, Pietro Ravani, Gian Marco Ghiggeri
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10.1371/journal.pone.0110697

PLOS ONE Impact of a Participatory Intervention with Women’s Groups on Psychological Distress among Mothers in Rural Bangladesh: Secondary Analysis of a Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial
October 16, 2014 Kelly Clarke, Kishwar Azad, Abdul Kuddus, Sanjit Shaha, Tasmin Nahar, Bedowra Haq Aumon, Mohammed Munir Hossen, James Beard, Anthony Costello, Tanja A. J. Houweling, Audrey Prost, Edward Fottrell
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Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

PLOS ONE Failure to Replicate Depletion of Self-Control
October 21, 2014 Xiaomeng Xu, Kathryn Demos, Tricia Leahey, Chantelle Hart, Jennifer Trautvetter, Pamela Coward, Kathryn Middleton, Rena Wing
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10.1371/journal.pone.0109144

PLOS ONE A Capsaicin (8%) Patch in the Treatment of Severe Persistent Inguinal Postherniorrhaphy Pain: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial
October 7, 2014 Joakim M. Bischoff, Thomas K. Ringsted, Marian Petersen, Claudia Sommer, Nurcan Üçeyler, Mads U. Werner
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10.1371/journal.pone.0109035

PLOS ONE The Influence of Partner-Specific Memory Associations on Picture Naming: A Failure to Replicate Horton (2007)
October 3, 2014 Sarah Brown-Schmidt, William S. Horton
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10.1371/journal.pone.0107430

PLOS ONE Gameplay as a Source of Intrinsic Motivation in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Auditory Training for Tinnitus
September 12, 2014 Derek Hoare, Nicolas Van Labeke, Abby McCormack, Magdalena Sereda, Sandra Smith, Hala Al Taher, Victoria Kowalkowski, Mike Sharples, Deborah Hall
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10.1371/journal.pone.0091729

PLOS ONE Curated MicroRNAs in Urine and Blood Fail to Validate as Predictive Biomarkers for High-Risk Prostate Cancer
April 4, 2014 Nikhil Sapre, Matthew Hong, Geoff Macintyre, Heather Lewis, Adam Kowalczyk, Anthony Costello, Niall Corcoran, Christopher Hovens
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10.1371/journal.pone.0084896

PLOS ONE Why Publishing Everything Is More Effective than Selective Publishing of Statistically Significant Results
January 17, 2014 Marcel A. L. M. van Assen, Robbie C. M. van Aert, Michèle B. Nuijten, Jelte M. Wicherts
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10.1371/journal.pone.0084513

PLOS ONE T Cells Detect Intracellular DNA but Fail to Induce Type I IFN Responses: Implications for Restriction of HIV Replication
January 3, 2014 Randi Berg, Stine Rahbek, Emil Kofod-Olsen, Christian Holm, Jesper Melchjorsen, David Jensen, Anne Louise Hansen, Louise Jørgensen, Lars Ostergaard, Martin Tolstrup, Carsten Larsen, Søren Paludan, Martin Jakobsen, Trine Mogensen
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10.1371/journal.pone.0072467

PLOS ONE Two Failures to Replicate High-Performance-Goal Priming Effects
August 16, 2013 Christine Harris, Noriko Coburn, Doug Rohrer, Harold Pashler
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10.1371/journal.pone.0056596

PLOS ONE Implicitly Priming the Social Brain: Failure to Find Neural Effects
February 20, 2013 Katherine Powers, Todd Heatherton
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10.1371/journal.pone.0052494

PLOS ONE Keratinocytes Propagated in Serum-Free, Feeder-Free Culture Conditions Fail to Form Stratified Epidermis in a Reconstituted Skin Model
January 11, 2013 Rebecca Lamb, Carrie Ambler
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10.1371/journal.pone.0050486

PLOS ONE Lack of Evidence for mtDNA as a Biomarker of Innate Immune Activation in HIV Infection
November 29, 2012 Adam Lauring, Tzong-Hae Lee, Jeffrey Martin, Peter Hunt, Steven Deeks, Michael Busch
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10.1371/journal.pone.0042510

PLOS ONE Priming of Social Distance? Failure to Replicate Effects on Social and Food Judgments
August 29, 2012 Harold Pashler, Noriko Coburn, Christine Harris
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10.1371/journal.pone.0041548

PLOS ONE Untrained Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) Fail to Imitate Novel Actions
August 8, 2012 Claudio Tennie, Josep Call, Michael Tomasello
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10.1371/journal.pone.0036581

PLOS ONE High LRRK2 Levels Fail to Induce or Exacerbate Neuronal Alpha-Synucleinopathy in Mouse Brain
May 15, 2012 Martin Herzig, Michael Bidinosti, Tatjana Schweizer, Thomas Hafner, Christine Stemmelen, Andreas Weiss, Simone Danner, Nella Vidotto, Daniela Stauffer, Carmen Barske, Franziska Mayer, Peter Schmid, Giorgio Rovelli, P. Herman van der Putten, Derya Shimshek
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Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

PLOS ONE Failing the Future: Three Unsuccessful Attempts to Replicate Bem’s ‘Retroactive Facilitation of Recall’ Effect
March 14, 2012 Stuart Ritchie, Richard Wiseman, Christopher French
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10.1371/journal.pone.0029849

PLOS ONE Lack of Effect of Lowering LDL Cholesterol on Cancer: Meta-Analysis of Individual Data from 175,000 People in 27 Randomised Trials of Statin Therapy
January 19, 2012 Jonathan Emberson, Patricia Kearney, Lisa Blackwell, Connie Newman, Christina Reith, Neeraj Bhala, Lisa Holland, Richard Peto, Anthony Keech, Rory Collins, John Simes, Colin Baigent
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10.1371/journal.pone.0017470

PLOS ONE Lack of an Antibacterial Response Defect in Drosophila Toll-9 Mutant
February 28, 2011 Karine Narbonne-Reveau, Bernard Charroux, Julien Royet
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10.1371/journal.pone.0003140

PLOS ONE Lack of Association between Measles Virus Vaccine and Autism with Enteropathy: A Case-Control Study
September 4, 2008 Mady Hornig, Thomas Briese, Timothy Buie, Margaret L. Bauman, Gregory Lauwers, Ulrike Siemetzki, Kimberly Hummel, Paul A. Rota, William J. Bellini, John J. O'Leary, Orla Sheils, Errol Alden, Larry Pickering, W. Ian Lipkin

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Missing Pieces

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