Announces the Launch of Neurotrauma Reports Null Hypothesis at the Traumatic Brain Injury Conference
Cohen Veterans Bioscience (CVB), the Center for Biomedical Research Transparency (CBMRT) and Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, in their continued efforts to advance the publication of research with negative findings, announced today the launch of Neurotrauma Reports Null Hypothesis at the 10th Annual Traumatic Brian Injury Conference.
Null Hypothesis is a collaborative initiative dedicated to publishing well-performed replication and negative studies or studies where the outcomes do not confirm expected results or working hypotheses via dedicated journal space. First launched in 2018 with Neurology, the flagship journal of the American Academy of Neurology, the goal of Null Hypothesis is to catalyze a culture shift in science by publishing studies with negative findings as standard practice.
As part of CVB’s ongoing mission to drive reproducible, robust, and confirmatory science, CVB is providing the financial support to make articles with negative or replicable study findings freely available online. CBMRT is applying its highly successful Null Hypothesis model and Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is providing the publication infrastructure.
The reporting of a well-performed replication or negative study (and sharing of underlying data) has significant value in the scientific process. It helps researchers avoid pursuing less productive lines of inquiry, increases transparency and public trust in the research, and helps funders identify dead ends when making decisions on future research investments. Most importantly, without transparent and balanced reporting, the state of the science of the field cannot be fully understood.
According to CVB’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Andreas Jeromin, ‚ÄúThis is particularly important for brain trauma-related disorders, including traumatic brain injury, where there are few FDA-approved treatments, and a limited understanding of the biological underpinnings of the disorders. Without replicating studies or the publication of negative results and knowing what might be beneficial or not, progress in the development of personalized therapeutic approaches aimed at improving patient care will continue to stall.” Dr. Jeromin added, “Ensuring all well-performed research finds its way from the file drawer to the public requires a commitment from researchers, funders, and publishers to report on important negative results with the same priority as positive results.”
The Null Hypothesis initiative has already demonstrated its potential to promote balance in academic publications by urging more researchers in the neurology and cardiology fields to submit important negative and inconclusive research findings for peer review.
“Together we can address publication bias by encouraging the write-up and publication of all well-performed studies, including those with negative, null or inconclusive findings,” asserts A/Professor Sandra Petty, CEO of CBMRT. “Doing so not only improves research culture but also ensures clinical practice is informed by a more complete and balanced record to ultimately reduce the risk of avoidable harm to patients.”
“Today’s launch of the Null Hypothesis special collection is accompanied by an editorial and call for papers in Neurotrauma Reports. We are extremely pleased that CBMRT and CVB reached out to our newly launched online journal to provide an avenue for publishing these types of studies in the field of neurotrauma. The timely and rapid publication of negative or inconclusive findings will guide future neurotrauma research and in turn inform our constituencies, i.e. scientists, clinicians, and the public, of these important results,” says Dr. Helen Bramlett, Editor-in-Chief, Neurotrauma Reports.
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