{"entity":{"id":"idea-tr2-replication-set-aside","kind":"idea","name":"Funders set aside a fixed share of budget for independent replication","aka":[],"tldr":"Almost no research money goes to checking whether published cancer findings hold up: one replication project could complete only 23 of 50 planned experiments. Requiring 3 to 5% of every funder's research budget to go to independent replication, published whatever the result, would build the missing feedback loop.","summary":"The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology attempted to replicate 50 high-impact papers and could complete only 23 experiments, with effect sizes on average 85% smaller than the originals. No funder has a standing replication budget. A rule that 3 to 5% of a funder's research budget goes to independent replication of findings selected by their translational importance, with results published regardless of direction, would create the missing feedback loop.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology","url":"https://www.cos.io/rpcb"}],"tags":[],"related":["cruk","nci","idea-tr2-replication-before-ind"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-reproducibility","b-funding-allocation"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Findings that pass funded replication will progress to clinical trials at a higher rate and fail in early clinical development less often than unreplicated findings, justifying the set-aside within five years.","rationale":"Replication is a public good that no individual lab is rewarded for producing; only funders can pay for it systematically.","test":"One large funder adopts the set-aside; track replication outcomes and downstream translational success against a matched unreplicated set.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"philanthropy","cost":"large","horizonYears":3},"route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-replication-set-aside/","neighbours":{"institution":[{"id":"cruk","kind":"institution","name":"Cancer Research UK","route":"/institutions/cruk/"},{"id":"nci","kind":"institution","name":"National Cancer Institute (NIH)","route":"/institutions/nci/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-tr2-replication-bounties","kind":"idea","name":"Bounties for documented failed replications of high-impact findings","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-replication-bounties/"},{"id":"idea-tr2-tenure-replication-credit","kind":"idea","name":"Count replications and open data in hiring and promotion","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-tenure-replication-credit/"},{"id":"idea-tr2-phd-replication-year","kind":"idea","name":"Every cancer biology PhD begins with a funded replication of a published finding","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-phd-replication-year/"},{"id":"idea-tr2-replication-before-ind","kind":"idea","name":"Independent replication of the key experiment before first-in-human academic trials","route":"/ideas/idea-tr2-replication-before-ind/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-funding-allocation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Funding follows fashion, not burden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/"},{"id":"b-reproducibility","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Preclinical results do not reproduce","route":"/bottlenecks/b-reproducibility/"}]}}