Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Research

New Center Hopes to Clean Up Sloppy Science and Bogus Research

By Tom Bartlett March 5, 2013
Brian Nosek, an associate professor of psychology at the U. of Virginia and the force behind the Center for Open Science and the Reproducibility Project: Scientists are “reinforced for publishing, not for getting it right in the current incentives.”
Brian Nosek, an associate professor of psychology at the U. of Virginia and the force behind the Center for Open Science and the Reproducibility Project: Scientists are “reinforced for publishing, not for getting it right in the current incentives.”

Something is wrong with science, or at least with how science is often done. Flashy research in prestigious journals later proves to be bogus. Researchers have built careers on findings that are dubious or even turn out to be fraudulent. Much of the conversation about that trend has focused on flaws in social psychology, but the problem is not confined to a single field. If you keep up with the latest retractions and scandals, it’s hard not to wonder how much research is trustworthy.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Something is wrong with science, or at least with how science is often done. Flashy research in prestigious journals later proves to be bogus. Researchers have built careers on findings that are dubious or even turn out to be fraudulent. Much of the conversation about that trend has focused on flaws in social psychology, but the problem is not confined to a single field. If you keep up with the latest retractions and scandals, it’s hard not to wonder how much research is trustworthy.

But Tuesday might just be a turning point. A new organization, called the Center for Open Science, is opening its doors in an attempt to harness and focus a growing movement to clean up science. The center’s organizers don’t put it quite like that; they say the center aims to “build tools to improve the scientific process and promote accurate, transparent findings in scientific research.” Now, anybody with an idea and some chutzpah can start a center. But what makes this effort promising is that it has some real money behind it: The center has been given $5.25-million by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to help get started.

It’s also promising because a co-director of the center is Brian Nosek, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia (the other director is a Virginia graduate student, Jeffrey Spies). Mr. Nosek is the force behind the Reproducibility Project, an effort to replicate every study from three psychology journals published in 2008, in an attempt to gauge how much published research might actually be baseless.

Mr. Nosek is one of a number of strong voices in psychology arguing for more transparency and accountability. But up until now there hasn’t been an organization solely devoted to solving those problems. “This gives real backing to show that this is serious and that we can really put the resources behind it to do it right,” Mr. Nosek said. “This whole movement, if it is a movement, has gathered sufficient steam to actually come to this.”

‘Rejigger Those Incentives’

So what exactly will the center do? Some of that grant money will go to finance the Reproducibility Project and to further develop the Open Science Framework, which already allows scientists to share and store findings and hypotheses. More openness is intended to combat, among other things, the so-called file-drawer effect, in which scientists publish their successful experiments while neglecting to mention their multiple flubbed attempts, giving a false impression of a finding’s robustness.

The center hopes to encourage scientists to “register” their hypotheses before they carry out experiments, a procedure that should help keep them honest. And the center is working with journals, like Perspectives on Psychological Science, to publish the results of experiments even if they don’t pan out the way the researchers hoped. Scientists are “reinforced for publishing, not for getting it right in the current incentives,” Mr. Nosek said. “We’re working to rejigger those incentives.”

Mr. Nosek and his compatriots didn’t solicit funds for the center. Foundations have been knocking on their door. The Arnold Foundation sought out Mr. Nosek because of a concern about whether the research that’s used to make policy decisions is really reliable.

“It doesn’t benefit anyone if the publications that get out there are in any way skewed toward the sexy results that might be a fluke, as opposed to the rigorous replication and testing of ideas,” said Stuart Buck, the foundation’s director of research.

Other foundations have been calling too. With more grants likely to be on the way, Mr. Nosek thinks the center will have $8-million to $10-million in commitments before writing a grant proposal. The goal is an annual budget of $3-million. “There are other possibilities that we might be able to grow more dramatically than that,” Mr. Nosek said. “It feels like it’s raining money. It’s just ridiculous how much interest there is in these issues.”

The reason for the windfall, the foundations tell Mr. Nosek, is that they’re worried that science—not just psychology and not just social science—is not churning out the kind of real, reliable knowledge that the world needs.

“There is a concern that we are not making the kind of progress in translating basic science into effective application. A lot of research looks very promising in the first study, and it dies quickly,” Mr. Nosek said. “They’re asking, ‘What’s happening to our science that we can’t get any of this stuff to translate into Stage 2?’”

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Scholarship & Research
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Tom Bartlett
Tom Bartlett is a senior writer who covers science and ideas. Follow him on Twitter @tebartl.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin