The curious case of the cyclist’s unshaven legs
> The problem in the research community is that scientists have little incentive to duplicate earlier work just to check if it’s correct. Many journals have explicit policies forbidding the publication of work that attempts to replicate previous experiments.<p>This drive for unending novelty in the sciences is a shame on many levels.  The good and useful work of duplicating and verifying results goes undone, and scientists are driven ever more forcefully towards designing studies only on the basis of what will attract grant agencies.<p>Duplicating major results carefully would be useful to the scientific record.  Trying things that will probably fail, and then publishing negative results, would be useful too.  But, for most researchers, doing this useful work appears to be career suicide.