Scientist can feel defensive when hard-earned data are questioned, so careful planning is required when approaching them with misgivings.

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The scientific community is paying close attention to published work, and it means retractions are becoming more frequent, despite the careful pre-publication scrutiny. Retraction Watch publishes the depressing news of retractions almost daily. Although outright fabricated data is rare, mistakes do happen because scientists want to turn a blind eye to unwanted results, want to avoid being scooped or use inadequate experimental tools .

As a scientist, any work that you publish or data you collect becomes associated with your work or your lab. Thus, several reputations hang in the balance if retractions do occur. Rigorous experimental planning, data collection and analysis are paramount. But what happens if, for reasons outside of your control, these things don’t happen?

Unfortunately, early career researchers are often at the receiving end of non-reproducibility when moving into a new laboratory or taking on a new project. If you do believe that you’ve been caught up in a piece of work that doesn’t meet the high standards science demands, how do you approach your supervisor to voice your concerns? Continue reading →