RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Accessibility and Reproducible Research Practices in Cardiovascular Literature
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.07.06.498942
DO 10.1101/2022.07.06.498942
A1 Gabriel Heckerman
A1 Eileen Tzng
A1 Arely Campos-Melendez
A1 Chisomaga Ekwueme
A1 Adrienne L. Mueller
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/07/07/2022.07.06.498942.abstract
AB Background Several fields have described low reproducibility of scientific research and poor accessibility in research reporting practices. Although previous reports have investigated accessible reporting practices that lead to reproducible research in other fields, to date no study has explored the extent of accessible and reproducible research practices in cardiovascular science literature.Methods To study accessibility and reproducibility in cardiovascular research reporting, we screened 400 randomly selected articles published in 2019 in three top cardiovascular science publications: Circulation, the European Heart Journal, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). We screened each paper for accessible and reproducible research practices using a set of accessibility criteria including protocol, materials, data, and analysis script availability, as well as accessibility of the publication itself. We also quantified the consistency of open research practices within and across cardiovascular study types and journal formats.Results We identified that fewer than 2% of cardiovascular research publications provide sufficient resources (materials, methods, data, and analysis scripts) to fully reproduce their studies. After calculating an accessibility score as a measure of the extent to which an articles makes its resources available, we also showed that the level of accessibility varies across study types (p = 2e-16) and across journals (p = 5.9e-13). We further show that there are significant differences in which study types share which resources. We also describe the relationship between accessibility scores and corresponding author nationality.Conclusion Although the degree to which reproducible reporting practices are present in publications varies significantly across journals and study types; current cardiovascular science reports frequently do not provide sufficient materials, protocols, data, or analysis information to reproduce a study. In the future, having higher standards of accessibility mandated by either journals or funding bodies will help increase the reproducibility of cardiovascular research.Funding Authors Gabriel Heckerman, Arely Campos-Melendez, and Chisomaga Ekwueme were supported by an NIH R25 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (R25HL147666). Eileen Tzng was supported by an AHA Institutional Training Award fellowship (18UFEL33960207).Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.