The last decade has been called the decade of the reproducibility crisis—but this isn’t just a temporary flare-up. It’s a chronic, structural issue that cuts across disciplines and impacts the very foundation of how we produce and trust scientific knowledge. In this episode, we speak with members of the ReproducibiliTea Journal Club, a grassroots movement that empowers early-career researchers to tackle problems in reproducibility head-on by building local communities focused on open, transparent science.
Together, we explore how flawed incentives, poor data practices, and a culture of publishing over precision have led to a growing erosion of trust in science—from questionable p-values to the exclusion of inconvenient data. And while some of this is driven by pressure or lack of funding rather than bad faith, the consequences are real—especially in fields like biomedicine, where shaky evidence can risk patient lives.
But it’s not all bad news. By reading and discussing papers that critically engage with the replication crisis, this journal club is quietly shifting research culture—one department, one cup of tea at a time.
Vootele Voiker is Research Coordinator in Mouse Behavioural Phenotyping Facility at the Animal Center Lab in University of Helsinki
Anastasiia Marmyleva is doctoral researcher working in the field of mitochondria and metabolism at the University of Helsinki
Find their podcast to learn more: @reproducibilitea
Your host for this episode is Sujai Banerji
Editing by Kerttu Kalander
Episode cover by Anubhuti Bhatnagar
TSB podcast logo by Tomás Garnier Artínano
Jingle by Havelocke: www.thisishavelocke.bandcamp.com
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