Select Committee · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee

Reproducibility and research integrity

Status: Closed Opened: 22 Jul 2021 Closed: 19 Feb 2024 21 recommendations 7 conclusions 1 report

As the UK seeks to recover from the pandemic, research and innovation has the ability to drive economic growth, with UKRI estimating that every £1 spent on research and development delivers £7 in economic and social benefit. However, the integrity of research, especially medical and social science research, is at risk from what is known …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Research Integrity HC 101 10 May 2023 28 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
3 Recommendation Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Rese… Deferred

Mandate UK CORI to publish annual research integrity reports and a detailed strategy action plan.

Despite significant delays, we welcome the establishment of UK Committee on Research Integrity (UK CORI) as a potential answer to existing research integrity challenges. We ask UK CORI to commit to produce an annual state of the nation report on research integrity, including reproducibility, issues. These reports should contain a …

Government response. The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
4 Recommendation Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Rese… Deferred

Establish a dedicated UK CORI sub-committee to address research reproducibility challenges

It is disappointing that UK CORI’s recently published strategy did not mention reproducibility, especially since our inquiry highlighted that this is a major research integrity issue. UK CORI should make sure reproducibility challenges are given due attention and not overlooked in deference to other pressing research integrity issues. UK CORI …

Government response. The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
5 Recommendation Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Rese… Deferred

Require UK CORI to investigate AI's impact on research reproducibility in annual reports

The increased application of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific research presents a challenge to traditional research methods. The UK Committee on Research Integrity (UK CORI) should specifically: investigate the impact of deploying AI— and other increasingly complex software—on reproducibility in research; consider whether specialised action is needed; and set out …

Government response. The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
22 Recommendation Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Rese… Deferred

Review journal portfolios to ensure sufficient publication options for negative and confirmatory science

Aside from some notable exceptions, publishing routes for negative and confirmatory findings are not pursued thoroughly enough by the scholarly publishing industry. Publishers should review their journal portfolios to ensure that there are sufficient options for the publication of negative and confirmatory science, in line with the proportion of submissions …

Government response. The government partially accepts, welcoming the concept of registered reports for enhancing reproducibility but stating that further evaluation of their costs and benefits is needed. UKRI will continue to facilitate discussions and contribute to addressing challenges in this area.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Oral evidence sessions

4 sessions
Date Witnesses
2 Feb 2022 George Freeman MP · Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, James Parry · UK Research Integrity Office, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser · UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) View ↗
19 Jan 2022 Dr Adrian Weller · University of Cambridge, Professor Sebastian Vollmer · TU Kaiserslautern View ↗
15 Dec 2021 Dr Alina Chan · Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19, Dr Ben Goldacre · Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Dr Elizabeth Moylan · Wiley, Dr Jessica Butler · University of Aberdeen, Dr Ritu Dhand · Springer Nature, Richard Horton · The Lancet, The Viscount Ridley DL · Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19 View ↗
1 Dec 2021 Dr Ivan Oransky · Retraction Watch, Dr Janine Austin Clayton · Office of Research on Women’s Health at the United States National Institute for Health, Professor Dorothy Bishop · University of Oxford, Professor Marcus Munafò · UK Reproducibility Network Steering Group, Professor Neil Ferguson OBE · Imperial College London View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
25 Feb 2022 Correspondence from Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, …