&gt; &quot;I don&#x27;t think the work can ever speak for itself; it is simply too hard to verify the data.&quot;<p>It wouldn&#x27;t work in every case, however it is possible to have a reproducible experiment as part of a scientific paper. If the experiment can be reproduced (by publicly known scientists), then the identity of the author is not that important. The only time this wouldn&#x27;t work is when experiments were too costly and&#x2F;or time-consuming to reproduce.<p>&gt; &quot;Finally, anonymity precludes collaboration, the very basis of science. If I don&#x27;t know who did something I can&#x27;t call them up to extend their work, get their raw data, get help optimizing their method, etc.&quot;<p>Could go down the pseudo-anonymous route instead (similar to sites like HN and GitHub). That way the contact information could be specific to a single project, or could span multiple projects.