Science sleuths – an open peer review detective game

The ongoing reproducibility crisis has raised concerns within the scientific community, with many scientists compromising their integrity to publish a higher number of papers. To address this problem, it is essential to reform the system of academic incentives and the peer review process, and seek for innovative solutions. One proposed solution to the reproducibility crisis is open peer review, which plays a significant role in fostering an open research culture.

During the workshop, you will take on the role of an assistant editor at an open-access journal who later becomes a well-versed sleuth. You will collaborate in a small team to reveal crimes against research integrity and ethics related to publishing of scientific papers. This experience will provide you with insights into some of the challenges faced during the peer review process. Some papers may be deceptively convincing, requiring substantial investigative skills to get revealed as fraudulent or breaching the ethics and research integrity norms. Are you up to the challenge?