Science is self-correcting in nature, but the mechanism for correcting the literature could be more transparent. In 2010, Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus recognized this transparency issue and launched the blog Retraction Watch to shed light on what happened with these retracted research articles. In this episode of PLOScast, Ivan and Elizabeth Seiver talk about Retraction Watch and how retractions can sometimes provide valuable insight into the scientific process.

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are leading the way when it comes to challenging traditional approaches to scientific research and publishing, but achieving buy-in from senior investigators and peer scientists isn’t always easy. Jessica Polka would know, as an early career researcher (ECR) and the director of the ASAPbio initiative, her career is devoted to achieving and streamlining the use of preprints in biology. In episode 26 of PLOScast, I chat with Polka about preprints as a tool for science communication, as well as her career trajectory thus far and how she deals with feelings of imposter syndrome.

How do physicians access medical research at the point of care? Furthermore, how does the general public access and interpret this research, including the use of newspapers and Wikipedia? In this week’s PLOSCast, Elizabeth dives into these questions with Lauren Maggio, Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Good research should be replicable, but there are various issues that can impact reproducibility in science. In this PLOSCast, Elizabeth discusses some of these issues with Michèle Nuijten, a PhD Student at Tilburg University. Her research focuses on meta-science, covering topics such as replication, publication bias, statistical errors, and questionable research practices. She talks about the importance of checking statistics in psychology research, the impact that statistics have on replication, and some tools, like statcheck, that can be used to help with this work. For more information and related links, please see the blog post: http://blogs.plos.org/plospodcasts/2017/08/07/check-your-stats-an-interview-featuring-michele-nuijten/