A Glimpse Into the Reproducibility of Scientific Papers in Movement Ecology

Abstract

Reproducibility is the earmark of science and thus Movement Ecology as well. However, studies in disciplines such as biology and geosciences have shown that published work is rarely reproducible. Ensuring reproducibility is not a mandatory part of the research process and thus there are no clear procedures in place to assess the reproducibility of scientific articles. In this study we put forward a reproducibility workflow scoring sheet based on six criteria that lead to successful reproducible papers. The reproducibility workflow can be used by authors to evaluate the reproducibility of their studies before publication and reviewers to evaluate the reproducibility of scientific papers. To assess the state of reproducibility in Movement Ecology, we attempted to reproduce the results from Movement Ecology papers that use behavioral pattern identification methods. We selected 75 papers published in several journals from 2010- 2020. According to our proposed reproducibility workflow, sixteen studies reflected at least some reproducibility (scores greater than 4). In particular, we were only able to obtain the data for 16 out of 75 papers. Out of these, a minority of papers also provided code with the data (6 out of the 16 studies). Out of the 6 studies that made both data and code available, only four studies reflected a high level of reproducibility (scores greater than 9) owing it to good code annotation and execution. Based on our findings, we proposed guidelines for authors, journals and academic institutions to enhance the state of reproducibility in Movement Ecology.