R3
Enhancing Scientific Rigor, Reproducibility, and Reporting
The advance of science and the translational of scientific discoveries into benefits for humanity vitally depend on the quality and broad availability of the research data. Similarly, public trust in, and support of, scientific research also depends on data integrity and sharing. A number of events have raised concerns about whether the scientific community is uniformly meeting these high expectations, including the rise in retracted scientific publications, the failure of independent groups to replicate reported results, the incomplete reporting of important information required to replicate others’ work, and the often limited availability of the primary data generated in the research.
In response to these concerns, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, scientific publishers, scientific societies, and other interested parties have reviewed the current state of the scientific enterprise and made recommendations for improving the rigor, reproducibility, and reporting of scientific research.
To assist Rockefeller University investigators in meeting the highest standards, in 2018 the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, supported by an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), and the Markus Library jointly initiated a program to assist investigators in enhancing scientific rigor, reproducibility, and reporting, which we have titled R3, starting with a new lecture series. This website is another component of the R3 program, designed to bring together for investigators important background and source documents, as well as a compilation of proposed standards and tools to facilitate meeting all of the standards. As such, it will be a dynamic resource, updated regularly to reflect the evolution of the state of art. We welcome your comments and suggestions to continuously improve the value of R3 to the Rockefeller community.