(Vienna, 13 November 2020) The top scientific journal Scientific Reports has recently published a Special Collection on the subject of "Improving reproducibility in animal research". This collection contains a series of articles looking at the problem from different perspectives and making suggestions for improving the current situation. Florian Frommlet, MedUni Vienna expert at the Institute of Medical Statistics, wrote an editorial as Guest Editor.
Over the last few years there has been intense debate about the fact that many scientific results that have been published in renowned journals, could not be validated in independent studies. This led to the coining of the term "reproducibility crisis". There has been strong criticism about methodological weaknesses, especially in the area of preclinical animal research. Poor experimental design, inadequate statistical methods and also excessive standardisation of experiments are factors that contribute to the lack of reproducibility.
About Florian Frommlet
Florian Frommlet studied technical mathematics at Vienna University of Technology, subsequently graduating from Berlin Institute of Technology. He has been carrying out research in the field of theoretical and applied statistics since 2002. He specialises, in particular, in questions of multiple testing and high-dimensional model selection with applications in genetics. His research in this area led to a postdoctoral qualification at the University of Vienna in 2011. In addition to this, he works in the Statistical Consulting Service, together with researchers from MedUni Vienna. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Animal Ethics Committee and has already assessed more than 250 applications for animal testing and countless applications for experiment design.
Link to the Special Collection