RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Reproducibility and replicability of rodent phenotyping in preclinical studies JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 079350 DO 10.1101/079350 A1 Neri Kafkafi A1 Joseph Agassi A1 Elissa J. Chesler A1 John C. Crabbe A1 Wim E. Crusio A1 David Eilam A1 Robert Gerlai A1 Ilan Golani A1 Alex Gomez-Marin A1 Ruth Heller A1 Fuad Iraqi A1 Iman Jaljuli A1 Natasha A. Karp A1 Hugh Morgan A1 George Nicholson A1 Donald W. Pfaff A1 S. Helene Richter A1 Philip B. Stark A1 Oliver Stiedl A1 Victoria Stodden A1 Lisa M. Tarantino A1 Valter Tucci A1 William Valdar A1 Robert W. Williams A1 Hanno Würbel A1 Yoav Benjamini YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/10/05/079350.abstract AB The scientific community is increasingly concerned with cases of published “discoveries” that are not replicated in further studies. The field of mouse phenotyping was one of the first to raise this concern, and to relate it to other complicated methodological issues: the complex interaction between genotype and environment; the definitions of behavioral constructs; and the use of the mouse as a model animal for human health and disease mechanisms. In January 2015, researchers from various disciplines including genetics, behavior genetics, neuroscience, ethology, statistics and bioinformatics gathered in Tel Aviv University to discuss these issues. The general consent presented here was that the issue is prevalent and of concern, and should be addressed at the statistical, methodological and policy levels, but is not so severe as to call into question the validity and the usefulness of the field as a whole. Well-organized community efforts, coupled with improved data and metadata sharing were agreed by all to have a key role to play in view of identifying specific problems, as well as promoting effective solutions. As replicability is related to validity and may also affect generalizability and translation of findings, the implications of the present discussion reach far beyond the issue of replicability of mouse phenotypes but may be highly relevant throughout biomedical research.