About the series:

In this eight-episode podcast series, we interview several experts about “the reproducibility crisis” and how they think the culture of science plays into that. We dig into questions about academic incentives, publishing and funding practices, training and mentorship, how the media plays into the problem, and finally, what we can do to fix things.  

If you’re interested in using this series in your undergraduate or graduate courses, free lesson guides are available for each episode.

Episode 1

What is the Reproducibility Crisis?

This podcast series focuses on the relationship between science culture and reproducibility. To lay the foundation for that, we first need to discuss the replication crisis: What is it and what are some of the major factors that have come to light in the last decade or so?

Episode 2

Why is there a crisis?

Now that we’ve covered the “what” of the reproducibility crisis, it’s time to talk about the “why”. Why would scientists engage in practices that compromise the integrity of science?

Episode 3


The way that science is funded has changed a lot over time. What are those changes and how have they affected the way we practice science?

Episode 4

Problems in Science Publishing

In academia, publishing is “the coin of the realm”. How does the reproducibility of our work suffer under this “publish or perish” system?

Episode 5

The Role of the Media

The media loves a good headline about an exciting study. But can the way science media covers studies affect the science itself?

Episode 6

Mentorship and Career Challenges in Research

Academia relies on a model of mentorship. But what happens when the people in charge take liberties with their authority that affect the way trainees handle the data?

Episode 7

Solving Publishing, Funding, and the Media

Now that we’ve talked about all the things in science culture that contribute to reproducibility problems, let’s talk about how we can fix them!

Episode 8

Solving Incentives in Academia

Our experts had so many potential solutions to talk about that we had to add another episode to cover them all!

This project was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award number R25GM132785. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.