Novel scientific results are often seen as exciting and vital for the advancement of science and human knowledge. This is particularly true for the brain where vast portions of the system structure and function are still unknown and unexplored. However, like other fields in science, the Human Neuroscience field is suffering from the "reproducibility/replicability" crisis. The replicability tests of scientific methods show that many studies fail replication. The struggle of reproducing human studies, for example, leads to the experiments almost never being replicated by various laboratories. Furthermore, the lack of reproducibility is impeding large-scale collaborations and, therefore, progress. This demonstrates the necessity and value of replicating studies and independent verification of results. This demand for reproducible practices with standardized tests (in the case of animal studies) is not only increasingly demanded in neuroscience but in the entire scientific community.
With the Reproducibility in Human Neuroscience Research Topic Series, we aim to highlight work that aims to both quantify and improve the reproducibility of human neuroscience research and stimulate neuroscientists from all fields to design and publish works that rigorously attempt to reproduce landmarks or controversial studies. We are also interested in self-replication studies, where the authors attempt to replicate their own investigations, possibly published more than 5-10 years ago.
This Research Topic focuses on reproducibility in Brain-Computer Interfaces research and we welcome contributions on:
- "Results reproducibility", i.e., obtain the same results from an independent study with procedures as closely matched to the original study as possible;
- "Inferential reproducibility", i.e. draw the same conclusions from either an independent replication, using different research methodologies, of a study or a reanalysis of the original data.
We will consider both confirmatory and negative results, the unique criteria will be the rigorousness, fairness, and soundness of the replication study.
Authors are required to make all materials and methods used to conduct their research available to other researchers. Data and codes used to analyze results must comply with FAIR principles and should preferably be uploaded to an online repository providing a global persistent identifier (e.g., OSF, Harvard Dataverse, Zenodo). Authors are also strongly encouraged to subject their codes to an independent audit at codecheck.org.uk.
These studies can be submitted as Original Articles, Brief Research Reports, and Data Reports.
Keywords: Reproducibility, Replicability, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Human Neuroscience, #CollectionSeries
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
