Funders set aside a fixed share of budget for independent replication
Almost no money is spent checking whether important cancer findings hold up. Setting aside a small fixed fraction of every research budget for replication would change that.
The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology attempted to replicate 50 high-impact papers and could complete only 23 experiments, with effect sizes on average 85% smaller than the originals. No funder has a standing replication budget. A rule that 3 to 5% of a funder's research budget goes to independent replication of findings selected by their translational importance, with results published regardless of direction, would create the missing feedback loop.
- Preclinical results do not reproduce · Fewer than half of landmark cancer biology findings reproduce when someone else tries.
- Funding follows fashion, not burden · Money goes to the cancers and questions that are easy or popular, not the ones that kill most or where a dollar would do most.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaA replication status badge on every cancer paper, visible in PubMed
Shares Every cancer biology PhD begins with a funded replication of a published finding, Bounties for documented failed replications of high-impact findings, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaTop journals require an independent lab to reproduce key findings before publication
Shares Independent replication of the key experiment before first-in-human academic trials, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaPublicly funded cancer AI must release open weights and model cards
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute (NIH).
- IdeaPublish per-patient trial cost benchmarks and target halving them
Shares Funding follows fashion, not burden, Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute (NIH).
- IdeaPaid independent statistical review for preclinical papers that inform trials
Shares Independent replication of the key experiment before first-in-human academic trials, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaA home for the animal and organoid experiments that failed
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute (NIH).
- IdeaPre-register animal efficacy studies like clinical trials
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute (NIH).
- IdeaA public registry of unanswered clinical questions linked to funding calls
Shares Funding follows fashion, not burden, Cancer Research UK, National Cancer Institute (NIH).