RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Patching Science – amending the literature through version control
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.04.13.487348
DO 10.1101/2022.04.13.487348
A1 Kane, Adam
A1 Amin, Bawan
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/14/2022.04.13.487348.abstract
AB The ideal of self-correction in science is not well served by the current culture and system surrounding amendments to published literature. Here we report on a survey (N = 132) that highlights academics’ dissatisfaction with the status quo and their support for an alternative approach. We then describe our view of how amendments could and should work by drawing on the idea of an author-led version control system. Here authors would include a link in their published manuscripts to an updatable website (e.g. a GitHub repository or similar) that could be disseminated in the event of any amendment. Such a system is already in place for computer code and, as such, requires nothing but buy-in from the scientific community - a community that is already evolving towards various open science frameworks. This would remove a number of frictions that discourage amendments thus leading to an improved scientific literature and a healthier academic climate.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.