Editorial: Rigorous Science: a How-To Guide

Casadevall and Fang set out several proposals for research training to help ensure scientific “rigor”, which they define as promoting confidence in the truth or accuracy of the findings. The authors propose and elaborate on five foundations for scientific rigor: Redundancy in experimental design, recognition of error, intellectual honesty, sound statistical analysis, and avoidance of logical traps. They also present five actionable recommendations to support these foundations: Develop didactic programs to teach good experimental practices, require formal training in statistics and probability, focus journal clubs on methods and approaches, develop continuing education materials, and develop teaching aids to enhance the quality of peer review.  mBio 10.1128/mBio.01902-16