Better statistical reporting does not lead to statistical rigour: lessons from two decades of pseudoreplication in mouse-model studies of neurological disorders
These observations identify an urgent need for better standards in experimental design and increased vigilance for this type of error during peer review. While reporting standards have significantly improved over the past two decades, this alone has not been enough to curb the prevalence of pseudoreplication. We offer suggestions for how this can be remedied as well as quantifying the severity of this particular type of statistical error. Although the examined literature concerns a specific neuroscience-related area of research, the implications of pseudoreplication apply to all fields of empirical research.
Authors
- Emma Wilson
- Peter C. Kind (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4256-9639)
- Na Won Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1710-4183)
- Manuela Rizzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6174-7111)
- Lasani S. Wijetunge
- Adam D. Jackson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3554-6682)
- Catherine M. Abbott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8794-7173)
- Antti Aaltonen
- Antonis Asiminas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6492-0960)
- Sally M. Till (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3114-9866)
- Eleni Tsoukala
- Saurav Basu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1336-8720)
- Jingjing Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0086-2228)
- Sam A. Booker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1980-9873)
- Anjanette Harris
- Karolina Mazur
- Timothy O’Leary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1029-0158)
- Natasha Anstey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3530-009X)
- David J. A. Wyllie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4957-6049)
- Aoife McMahon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0978-0309)
- John C. Pierce (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0863-9584)
- Nina G Petrović
- Vanesa Salazar-Sanchez
- C. M. Henley
- Hugh Woods
- C. C. Erdem
- Constantinos Eleftheriou
- Beatriz Maio
- Lucia Landa-Navarro
- Sarah Bendova
- Sarah Giachetti
- Sam Heyes
- Raven Hickson
- Alex Crocker-Buque
- Laura Kamnioti-Dumont
- Robert Templaar
- Lysandra Fryer-Petridis
Institutions
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- European Bioinformatics Institute (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- The Queen's Medical Research Institute (GB)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Molecular Autism
- Published
- 2025-05-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-025-00663-3
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.40
Funders
- University of Edinburgh
- Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain