[From the article “Why is so much research dodgy? Blame the Research Excellence Framework” in The Guardian] “In the UK, the Ref [Research Excellence Framework] ranks the published works of researchers according to their originality (how novel is the research?), significance (does it have practical or commercial importance?), and rigour (is the research technically sound?). Outputs are then awarded one to four stars….The Ref completely undermines our efforts to produce a reliable body of knowledge. Why? The focus on originality and accessibility – publications exploring new areas of research using new paradigms, and avoiding testing well-established theories – is the exact opposite of what science needs to be doing to solve the troubling replication crisis. According to Ref standards, replicating an already published piece of work is simply uninteresting.”  To read more, click here.