📌 Many study findings are impossible to reproduce We need the validation of findings, so that research with the same methodology conducted by another team should demonstrate the same result. But in plenty of cases, results were not replicated. 

📌 Funding for science can cause bias To attain positive results means not only getting yourself more cited. In most cases, that is what sponsors want, or the money is wasted. With all this pressure, it is pretty hard to be unbiased. 

Meanwhile, searching for grants and other #funding sources is not meant for the faint-hearted. Scientists spend a plethora of time applying for grants with no success guaranteed. Sometimes it is almost impossible to meet all the criteria of funding organizations. Often there is a paragraph about already obtained or expected significant results among them. Add the time-consuming process of application approval. Finally, the results depend on people, and people can misjudge. 

📌 Research can get censored Another leverage of funding organizations is censorship. What can get censored: ✔ null results — when the study failed to confirm the hypothesis; ✔ topics that sponsors are not interested in. Like with rare diseases: If just a tiny percentage of the population carries the disease, it is unprofitable to invest in such drug research or common diseases when research topics are seemed to be routine.

📌 Publishing is expensive and not equally available to scientists The sum of the publication fee depends on many factors, including journal status. The more well-known and trusted the journal, the more noticeable the article will be. 

Publishing an article in open-access journals will cost authors a fortune. At the same time, numerous scientific findings are closed to a broad audience behind the paywalls. 

📌 Review process is unfair and inefficient ✔ A reviewer can be prejudiced, assessing the article based on personal preferences and putting aside the quality of the publication. ✔ The review process takes a lot of time.  ✔ Review is an unpaid job where all the profit goes to publishers. 

Have you ever dealt with these problems? Tell us, how do you tackle them?