Collection 

Best Practices in Method Reporting

For many years, SpringerNature has raised awareness of the challenges in replicating scientific experiments, and promoted the publication of detailed methods and protocols. Following a workshop organised by European Commission's Joint Research Centre, we contributed to a document drafting recommendations to improve methodological clarity in life sciences publications which has inspired this Collection highlighting content across a spectrum of different journals and subject areas. 

Other collections of similar articles can be found in the “Related Collections” tab. The “Resources” tab includes a list of journals dedicated to the publication of methods or protocols as well as links to suitable preprint servers related to method and data sharing, and recorded webinars.

 

Two scientists standing next to a microscope looking at text and data on pages on a floating banner behind them.

Editors

Replication and generalization (2023) In recent years, the field of psychology has taken great steps to improve the credibility of the research record.  This Collection is open to submissions at Nature Communications and Communications Psychology.

Improving reproducibility of metabolic research (2022) Nature Metabolism highlights best practices in experimental design, analysis and reporting to support the metabolic research community and increase reproducibility of research in the life sciences. 

Registered Reports (2021) Registered Reports are an innovative article format aimed at reducing publication bias and promoting rigorous, transparent research practices. Nature Human Behaviour champions Registered Reports as part of their commitment to increased rigour in science and publishing. Created: 20 December 2021

Reporting and reproducibility in microscopy (2021) This collection was created to support a Nature Methods Focus issue. It features a series of papers offering guidelines and tools for improving the tracking and reporting of microscopy metadata with an emphasis on reproducibility and data re-use. 

Reporting standards for machine learning in biology (2021) Machine learning-based approaches are being increasingly applied in life sciences research. This series of articles published at Nature Methods propose community reporting standards, intended to help improve the reproducibility and useability of machine learning-based analyses. 

Challenges in irreproducible research (2018) This collection highlights some of the steps that Nature was taking to improve the transparency and robustness in what they publish, and to promote awareness of the problem of irreproducibility within the scientific community. Many of these topics will still be helpful today. 

Scientific Rigour and Reproducibility (2018) Science moves forward by corroboration – when researchers verify others’ results. Progress is faster when people waste less time pursuing false leads. This content in this collection is largely overlapping with Challenges in irreproducible research. 

Challenges in irreproducible research - the 2015 Nature Special (2015) Can you remember a time before the Reporting Checklist? The first article listed in this collection is consensus on reporting principles aiming to improve quality control in biomedical research and encourage public trust in science. This collection highlights that many journals across Nature Publishing Group were committed to helping researchers improve data and method reporting.