Rigor and reproducibility instruction in academic medical libraries

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1443

Keywords:

reproducibility, replicability, library instruction, education, rigor and reproducibility, NIH requirements

Abstract

Background: Concerns over scientific reproducibility have grown in recent years, leading the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to require researchers to address these issues in research grant applications. Starting in 2020, training grants were required to provide a plan for educating trainees in rigor and reproducibility. Academic medical centers have responded with different solutions to fill this educational need. As experienced instructors with expertise in topics relating to reproducibility, librarians can play a prominent role in providing trainings, classes, and events to educate investigators and trainees, and bolstering reproducibility in their communities.

Case Presentations: This special report summarizes efforts at five institutions to provide education in reproducibility to biomedical and life sciences researchers. Our goal is to expand awareness of the range of approaches in providing reproducibility services in libraries.

Conclusions: Reproducibility education by medical librarians can take many forms. These specific programs in reproducibility education build upon libraries’ existing collaborations, with funder mandates providing a major impetus. Collaborator needs shaped the exact type of educational or other reproducibility support and combined with each library’s strengths to yield a diversity of offerings based on capacity and interest. As demand for and complexity of reproducibility education increases due to new institutional and funder mandates, reproducibility education will merit special attention.

Author Biographies

Fred Willie Zametkin LaPolla, NYU Health Sciences Library

Fred LaPolla is a Knowledge Management Librarian at the NYU Health Sciences Library. He serves on the Data Services team and as liaison to General Internal Medicine and Radiology. He earned his MLS at Queens College, CUNY.

Caitlin J. Bakker

Director, Open Research & Publishing, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN

Nina Exner

ORCID: 0000-0002-8746-8364, Research Data Librarian, VCU Libraries, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Tisha Montnech

ORCID: 0000-0002-3331-188X, Research Librarian for Life Sciences and Research Metrics, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Alisa Surkis

ORCID: 0000-0002-9777-2693Deputy Director, Medical Library, NYU Health Sciences Library, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY

Hao Ye

ORCID: 0000-0002-8630-1458 Reproducibility Librarian, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

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2022-12-08 — Updated on 2023-10-02

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