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Positively Negative: A New PLOS ONE Collection focusing on Negative, Null and Inconclusive Results

“I never quit until I get what I’m after. Negative results are just what I’m after. They are just as valuable to me as positive results.” – Thomas A. Edison

Willi HeidelbachThe publication of negative results is vitally important for many reasons, not least that it helps prevent duplication of research effort and potentially expedites the process of finding positive results. However, the struggle to find a home to publish the work, and the effort necessary to submit and publish what can feel like negligible scientific contributions, has led to concerns that negative findings are becoming the missing pieces in the scientific literature.

Today PLOS ONE launches a new collection to highlight studies that present inconclusive, null findings or demonstrate failed replications of other published work. The collection has been titled ‘Missing Pieces’ in reference to the many null results filed away indefinitely and ultimately excluded from the scientific record.

Selected examples focus on the lack of a significant effect of postpartum psychological distress on mothers in rural Bangladesh, despite differing positive findings in India.

Frequency discrimination training (FDT) using integrated training with computer-gameplay has previously been reported to show limited improvement in treating the symptoms of tinnitus, however, recent results from a randomised controlled trial did not translate to therapeutic benefit.

The failure to replicate previously published work is prominently highlighted in the popular PLOS ONE psychology paper, Failing the Future. Three attempted replications on the existence of precognition failed to support the previously significant results supporting retroactive facilitation of recall.

The publication of negative results, such as the works featured in the collection, is essential to research progress. Many journals, however, reject studies reporting negative or inconclusive results because the work is not considered impactful enough. In contrast, PLOS ONE does publish such studies; our publication criteria state that we will consider all work that makes a contribution to the field independent of impact.

Through this collection we hope to demonstrate that negative results are valuable to the community in cases where the result is illuminating in the context of previous work.

This collection serves to highlight negative result studies and to encourage the submission of negative results to PLOS ONE. If you would like your work to be considered for the Missing Pieces Collection, please contact collections@plos.org

Please visit the collection at: www.ploscollections.org/missingpieces

Image: Willi Heidelbach, Wikimedia Commons

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