Scientists and journals must work together to protect the integrity of the scientific literature

The scientific literature has for some years reflected serious concerns over the irreproducibility of many published scientific results; yet the problem persists. We review here how the prevailing culture contributes to this problem and suggest what needs to change to address it. We build on the evaluation of Buonarati et al. (1) in (2) to illustrate some of the general concerns over current publishing practices – focusing on questionable incentives for authors, editors and publishers of research journals. We then suggest some ways that the integrity of the scientific literature might be strengthened.