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Review
. 2017 Apr 26;15(4):e2001846.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001846. eCollection 2017 Apr.

The credibility crisis in research: Can economics tools help?

Thomas Gall  1 , John P A Ioannidis  2 , Zacharias Maniadis  1
Affiliations
Review

The credibility crisis in research: Can economics tools help?

Thomas Gall et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

The issue of nonreplicable evidence has attracted considerable attention across biomedical and other sciences. This concern is accompanied by an increasing interest in reforming research incentives and practices. How to optimally perform these reforms is a scientific problem in itself, and economics has several scientific methods that can help evaluate research reforms. Here, we review these methods and show their potential. Prominent among them are mathematical modeling and laboratory experiments that constitute affordable ways to approximate the effects of policies with wide-ranging implications.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Modeling the consequences of reporting research with perfect honesty, omitting relevant details, or committing overt fraud.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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