Reproducibility has become a major topic for research publication, and in the bio-medical, medical, and biological sciences, there have been growing movements to increase reproducibility by modifying and increasing standards for publication. Below are some examples of changing requirements and tools that might be helpful to meet those requirements.
Identification of Resources Used in Research
Some journals now require Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) as part of publication requirements. The Resource Identification Initiative created The RRID Portal to help researchers have access to multiple RRID resources (i.e. The Anti-Body Registry, Model Organism Databases, NIF Resource Registry) at one place.
To learn more about the Resource Identification Initiative, please read the following article: The Resource Identification Initiative: A Cultural Shift in Publishing
Research Methods Checklists
Some journals are requiring that checklists that are designed to improve the quality and transparency of reporting in submitted manuscripts, be completed and submitted with the manuscript.
The Materials Design Analysis Reporting (MDAR) checklist for authors, is a checklist designed for most types of scientific research. A draft copy is available here, please note the final version of MDAR has not yet been released. This checklist has been piloted by 13 journals (data from this project are available here) and will be required by Science publications.
The ARRIVE guidelines: a checklist to improve reporting for research involving animals, is an example of a checklist that could be required for submission along with a manuscript.
STAR Methods have been adopted by Cell and requires authors complete a table, not a checklist, as well as other other frameworks for their manuscript submission.
Please read this article, A checklist is associated with increased equality of reporting preclinical biomedical research: A systematic review, for more information on checklists to improve scientific reporting as a required part of publication.
