Scoop protection and co-publication norms to reduce academic secrecy
Scientists hide results for fear of being beaten to publication. If journals and funders guaranteed that a preprinted finding cannot be scooped, and encouraged rival groups to publish side by side, sharing would become safe.
Journals in the cancer field adopt explicit scoop-protection policies (a preprint or registered report establishes priority and a competing paper appearing during review does not affect acceptance, as PLOS and eLife have done) and funders count preprints as outputs. Add a co-publication mechanism in which groups working on the same question are matched and encouraged to publish back-to-back with cross-replication, which the field treats as a strength. Secrecy delays diffusion and, by preventing early cross-checking, contributes to irreproducible claims reaching translation.
- Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration · Companies with complementary drugs rarely test them together, and data that could answer questions stays locked up.
- Preclinical results do not reproduce · Fewer than half of landmark cancer biology findings reproduce when someone else tries.
- Knowledge reaches practice too slowly · Knowledge diffusion is slow: it takes years for a proven result to change what most patients receive, and no one can keep up with the literature.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaA universal material transfer agreement with a thirty-day default
Shares Promote academics for trials completed, data shared and findings replicated, Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaPay investigators for finishing and publishing trials, not for enrolling patients
Shares Funder bonuses for releasing results and data within six months, negatives included, Promote academics for trials completed, data shared and findings replicated.
- IdeaA global ledger of negative results and failed compounds with mandatory deposition
Shares Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaEnforce individual participant data sharing as a condition of publication and funding
Shares Secrecy and intellectual property block collaboration, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaAutomatic flagging of retracted or corrected evidence in guidelines and decision support
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Knowledge reaches practice too slowly.
- IdeaOpen-source protocol and statistical analysis plan templates with runnable code
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Knowledge reaches practice too slowly.
- InstitutionEuropean Association for Cancer Research
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Knowledge reaches practice too slowly.
- IdeaA replication status badge on every cancer paper, visible in PubMed
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Knowledge reaches practice too slowly.