This report, just published in the Publications Office of the EU, aims to increase the European Commission’s understanding of the lack of reproducibility in Europe, and help design a suitable response in the context of EU Research & Innovation.
The report is based on a field review and on an expert seminar, and includes specific "Action Boxes", helping to identify possible actions to improve research reproducibility overall.
The concepts of reproducibility, re-enactment and re-use are introduced, explaining their value both as mechanisms to ensure "good science" and as innovation drivers.
Then the report reviews recent claims regarding the increasing lack of reproducibility in modern science and tries to identify pitfalls in the scientific process: one of them is the "Lack of standardisation: greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes".
OntoCommons' objective is to reach interoperability across industry verticals by harmonising and standardising data in the NMBP (Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing) application domains. Moreover, one of its specific goals, in line with the EC approach, is to create awareness on the advantages of interoperable software solutions and project results, and to demonstrate the reusability of data developed in OntoCommons.
This is also applied in practice in the Ontology Commons EcoSystem developed as one of the main project's outcomes: more than one ontology will be included at the top level, and the EcoSystem will be developed by making use of the work already done, cooperating with the existing EU and international initiatives in the same field.
The full EC Scoping Report "Reproducibility of scientific results in the EU" is available here.