Researchers at a startup founded by experts in biomedical informatics have developed what they call a credit report for scientific publications. Just like a financial credit report, which shows the fiscal health of a person, this automated analysis shows the hygiene of the scientific paper.

Leslie McIntoshIn 2016, Nature magazine asked more than 1,500 scientists a simple, yet critical question – Have you ever failed to reproduce an experiment? Reproducibility of research results lies at the heart of the scientific method, which relies on testing a hypothesis based on keen observations of results from an experiment. In the Nature poll, more than 70% of researchers reported they had tried and failed to reproduce another scientist’s experiments. More than half even admitted they had failed to reproduce their own experiments.

The so-called reproducibility crisis raises questions that can undermine public confidence in science, from the efficacy of drugs and vaccines to the reality of climate change. In St. Louis, Missouri, researchers at a startup founded by experts in biomedical informatics have developed what they call a credit report for scientific publications. Just like a financial credit report, which shows the fiscal health of a person, this automated analysis shows the hygiene of the scientific paper. The company, called Ripeta, aims to make science easier by highlighting verifiability and reproducibility.

“We have to acknowledge that just because [data] are not recorded robustly within a scientific manuscript, it doesn’t mean that the science was done [poorly] or that the conclusions were wrong,” explains Dr. Leslie McIntosh, a co-founder and CEO at Ripeta.

“Technology has made science and scientific calculations, algorithms, so much easier, and yet describing everything has become so much more complicated because of that,” she tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “I’m trying to separate out the scientific hygiene, if you will, and the reporting practices, from the science.”

Ripeta is one of four companies nominated for the ALPSP Awards for Innovation in Publishing 2019. The winner will be announced at the annual conference of the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers at the Beaumont Estate, Old Windsor, Berkshire, UK from 11-13 September.

Medical Lab
Share This