Reproducibility and research integrity

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 22 Jul 2021 Closed: 19 Feb 2024 Parliament page
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 … Read more
21 Recommendations
7 Conclusions
1 Report
4 Oral sessions
1 Letter
4 Events
Activity timeline 11 events
21 Jul
2023
Report published
10 May
2023
Report published
25 Feb
2022
Correspondence
2 Feb
2022
Oral evidence
2 Feb
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 6, Palace of Westminster
19 Jan
2022
Oral evidence
19 Jan
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 8, Palace of Westminster
15 Dec
2021
Oral evidence
15 Dec
2021
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 8, Palace of Westminster
1 Dec
2021
Oral evidence
1 Dec
2021
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 8, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 4 sessions
2 Feb 2022
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George Freeman MP · Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy James Parry · UK Research Integrity Office Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser · UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
19 Jan 2022
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Dr Adrian Weller · University of Cambridge Professor Sebastian Vollmer · TU Kaiserslautern
15 Dec 2021
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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
1 Dec 2021
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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
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and Research Integrity HC 101 10 May 2023 28 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
4 results
Clear
3 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and…
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 … Read more
Government Response
The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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4 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and…
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 … Read more
Government Response
The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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5 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and…
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 … Read more
Government Response
The response does not cover those recommendations which are addressed to UKCORI, who will respond separately.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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22 Recommendation Deferred
Sixth Report - Reproducibility and…
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 … Read more
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
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Government Response AI assessment · 28 of 21 classified
Accepted 4
Accepted in Part 11
Acknowledged 5
Deferred 4
Not Addressed 1
Rejected 3
Total 21 recs + 7 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
25 Feb 2022 Correspondence from Sir Patrick Vallance, Government Chief Scientific Adviser, to the Chair regarding guidance to implement the Concordat to Support Research Integrity in Government
Parliament page