Improving the reproducibility of biomedical research: a call for action

One of the important roles that IAP for Health plays within the health arena is to facilitate the preparation of international statements on important health and health-related matters of global significance

We are therefore pleased to present a new IAP for Health Statement: ‘A call for action to improve the reproducibility of biomedical research’ – launched at the IAP for Health Conference in Beijing, China, on 27 September 2016. 

The Statement has been endorsed by more than 45 IAP for Health member academies

Follow the links below to download this latest IAP for Health Statement.

The Statement was proposed by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (UKAMS), which took the lead in developing the text and coordinating the activities of the Working Group. We would therefore like to thank the efforts of UKAMS as well as the members of the IAP Working Group – experts nominated by IAP for Health member academies from nine countries – for their efforts in developing, refining and finalizing the Statement. Special thanks go to Dorothy Bishop, chair of the Working Group, for her vision and leadership in guiding this Statement through its development phases.

Irreproducible results affect researchers in countries at the leading edge of biomedical research as well as those working in low- and middle-income countries. IAP for Health hopes that, by raising awareness of the issue through the release of this Statement, our 78 member academies will take up the challenge and present it directly to their national governments and disseminate it through their national scientific communities so that our recommendations can begin to be implemented. In this way, we hope that the standards expected of peer-reviewed medical research will be heightened and that some of the public confidence in the scientific enterprise that has been lost will be rebuilt.

IAP for Health also invites its member academies to provide translations of the Statement, which will then also be made available here.

Working group

• Professor Dorothy Bishop, United Kingdom (Chair)
• Professor Alejandro Federico de Nicola, Argentina
• Professor David L Vaux, Australia
• Professor Hajera Mahtab, Bangladesh
• Professor Umberto D’Alessandro, The Gambia
• Professor Gerd Heusch, Germany
• Professor Gita Ramjee, South Africa
• Professor Nadira Karunaweera, Sri Lanka
• Dr Story Landis, USA

Translations by the kind offices of:
Mr. Ren Hongtao, China 
Mrs. Nora Wensky, Hungary
Prof. Mitsunobu Kano, Japan
Ms. Anna Rogovina, Russia
Mrs. Silvia Tenconi, Argentina