Replication Games: A Collaborative Research Initiative

Replication Games

17 May 2024

The Replication Games is a one-day event that brings researchers together to collaborate on replicating papers published in high-ranking journals. Replication is a crucial aspect of scientific research, ensuring that results are reliable and reproducible. By participating in the Replication Games, you will not only contribute to the integrity of research in your field but also have the opportunity to network with fellow researchers and develop your coding skills. Replication Games are open to professors, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and researchers more broadly. See Replication Games for upcoming games around the world .

What to Expect

Researchers participating in the Replication Games will join a small team of 3-5 members with similar research interests. Teams may either conduct a robustness replication, which is the ability to duplicate the results of a prior study using the same data but different procedures as were used by the original investigator - or recode the study using the raw or intermediate data. Teams may also do a combination of robustness/recoding.
Before the event, participants are expected to read the paper and familiarize themselves with the replication package. Teams need to develop a game plan outlining each team members' responsibilities during the Games. During the event, teams will work together to replicate the study. Games typically start at about 8:30am and end at 4pm local time. You are expected to work with your teammates during that time. After the replication games, teams then have to write up a short replication report summarizing their efforts.
Participants will be granted co-authorship to a meta-paper combining a large number of replications. Participants will be matched based on research interests, and a study from a leading journal will be assigned to each team. Some teams elect to submit their replication to a journal, allowing for the possibility to get another publication.

Registration to Replication Games

To register for an upcoming Replication Games event, email the following information to Abel Brodeur at abrodeur [at] uottawa.ca: (i) your field of study and research interests, (ii) preferred statistical software, (iii) the specific games you are interested in attending and (iv) if you want to participate in-person or virtually. I4R will assign you to a team based on your research interests. Pre-defined teams are also welcome to participate.

Organizing Replication Games

If you are interested in organizing a Replication Games event at your institution, please reach out to Abel Brodeur for more information and guidance.

Virtual Participation

Virtual participants are welcome and should collaborate with their teams using appropriate tools and communication platforms. Further instructions for virtual participants will be provided upon registration.