# A funder-backed, indexed journal of negative and inconclusive cancer results

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-negative-results-journal/  
OnCo record `idea-tr2-negative-results-journal` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Create a proper, indexed journal that publishes failed experiments and trials quickly, with fees paid by funders so that there is no barrier to reporting failure.

## Summary

Previous attempts (the Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine, which ceased in 2017) lacked funder backing and prestige. A journal owned by a consortium of major cancer funders, indexed in PubMed, with rapid methods-focused review, no publication charge, and citation in funders' progress reports would create a credible venue. Rigour of methods, not direction of result, is the acceptance criterion.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: The journal publishes at least 300 negative or inconclusive oncology papers per year by year three, and citation analysis shows that these papers are cited in subsequent grant applications and protocols.
- Rationale: Publication bias is partly a venue problem: authors report that no journal wants a null. Funder ownership addresses the prestige and cost barriers together.
- Proposed test: Launch with commitments from three funders; monitor submissions, time to decision, and citations at three years.
- Maturity: speculative
- Actor: philanthropy

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Failures are hidden): Anderson et al., Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov (NEJM 2015): https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa1409364

## Connected records

- collections: [PubMed & Europe PMC](https://onco.cc/collections/pubmed-europepmc/)
- institutions: [Cancer Research UK](https://onco.cc/institutions/cruk/)
- ideas: [A registry for preclinical experiments that did not work](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-preclinical-negative-registry/), [Registered reports for cancer biology: the plan is peer-reviewed before the result](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-preclinical-registered-reports/), [Small grants that pay scientists to write up abandoned projects](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-tr2-writeup-grants/)
- bottlenecks: [Failures are hidden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/)
- key papers: [Compliance with results reporting at ClinicalTrials.gov](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-anderson-n-engl-j-med/)

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