Monya Baker published the findings of a study that polled 1,576 researchers at top universities about the replicability crisis in their research fields. On that occasion, about 70% of them reported failing to replicate the findings of some other authors’ research, and approximetly half of them reported failing to replicate the results of some of their previously published research. However, what sparked the most debate within scientific community was the fact that just 23% of them attempted to publish failed replications in scientific journals, while half were unsuccessful – scientific journals continually rejected them. Despite the fact that researchers from several scientific fields participated in this study, there is still not enough effort in science to verify previous research, and the problem of replicability is seldom discussed.

When it comes to psychology, the Center for Open Science undertook a project called Many Labs 2, in which a team of 186 researchers from more than 60 labs throughout the globe conducted replication studies of 28 experiments deemed fundamental in psychology. The investigation on 125 samples and over 15,000 participants came to the following conclusion: half of the research was not replicated. A few years later, Brajan Nosek and a team of 269 researchers, conducted replication studies of 100 findings published in three major international journals. The authors concluded that the findings of around two-thirds of studies in social psychology and approximately half of the studies in cognitive psychology had not been replicated. These and other findings have raised a slew of concerns, ranging from conceptual to practical, such as academic fraud, bias in the interpretation of data, bias in the use of statistics, post-hypothesizing and rising pressure to publish papers. This lecture will not only address the problem of replicability in science, but it will also provide an opportunity to discuss the role that the scientific journal policies and the pressure to publish (Publish or perish) play in the development of the crisis in science.

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.