The value of null results: How Discover champions inclusive science

Author: Siobhan Bates

It’s an all-too-common experience: You spend months designing and conducting your research, only to find that the results don’t support your original hypothesis. Now what? In a scholarly landscape where null, inconclusive, or negative results often go unreported, the experience can be frustrating at best and demotivating at worst.

With their broad and inclusive remit, Discover journals encourage researchers to reframe their understandable frustration and celebrate these results by sharing them broadly. After all, the “failure” they came up with is a mechanism for scientific progress.

Springer Nature recently published the first large-scale survey on how researchers feel about null results. 98% of researchers recognise the value of shared negative results, and virtually every researcher will encounter null results at some point in their career. In fact, the survey found that 53% of researchers have run a project that generated solely or mostly null results.

Breakthroughs aren’t often – if ever – a product of the eureka effect but the upshot of a long sequence of successes, setbacks, and everything in between. Null results are a critical part of this process, helping to challenge assumptions, refine theories and methodologies, and build a more accurate and reproducible body of knowledge. In the survey, 88% agreed that sharing null results improved the quality of subsequent research.

Why null results matter

Publishing all outcomes helps researchers generate richer and more nuanced evidence. In the survey, researchers cited better hypotheses, more rigorous methods, and new inspiration as just some of the positive outcomes they had experienced from either sharing or using null results shared by others. Just as importantly, openly sharing all findings builds trust in science, enabling researchers to feel confident that no data is being selectively withheld and that integrity is valued as highly as discovery.

Moreover, publishing null results also play a key role in reducing research waste. When null findings go unpublished, other researchers may unknowingly repeat experiments that have already been conducted—spending valuable time, funding, and resources on paths that have been tested and found unfruitful. Sharing these outcomes helps the entire research community avoid duplication, focus efforts more efficiently, and ultimately accelerate scientific progress.

The publication problem: Bias against null results in traditional publishing

So, what is holding researchers back from publishing their null results? The number one barrier identified in the survey is the fear that journals will not accept null results. In practice, more than half (58%) of respondents who tried to publish a paper describing null results had their paper accepted, but there remain negative feelings and concerns among researchers, along with low awareness of where to publish this type of outcome. With research assessment still weighted toward citations, there is a gravitation toward publishing positive results only.

Publications of null results tend to be cited less than those of positive results, which influences researchers’ decision to try and publish them. With research assessment still weighted toward citations, there is an understandable gravitation toward publishing positive results.

And even when null results are published, authors of these articles garner less recognition and reward, including opportunities for funding or career advancement. Some even fear reputational doubt: 20% of survey respondents reported experiencing negative consequences from publishing a null result.

This can be detrimental for early-career researchers, who face less incentive to share null results due to prestige pressures, even though learning from trial and error is an essential skill to master for any thorough researcher. Early-career researchers are already vulnerable to bias in hiring, funding, promotion, and even the peer review process, with certain demographics disproportionately affected.

Their concern over publishing null results is understandable, especially without an available space that celebrates these types of results being published. Beyond their own publications, early-career researchers are also most vulnerable to the restriction of access to high-quality, potentially time- and resource-saving research, which only deepens the inequities they face.

Discover’s solution: Inclusive publishing for all results and researchers

That’s where Discover journals break with tradition. The survey made one thing clear: Something must change, and we believe it should start with increasing visibility and support for null results, reducing stigma, and broadening evaluation criteria.  

Born with community needs in mind, we are outspoken about the importance of publishing null results. A family of inclusive, open access (OA) journals, we don’t just tolerate the existence of null, inconclusive, and negative results in research but explicitly welcomes and fights for their inclusion.

From Discover Psychology to Discover Oncology, all journals in the portfolio support sound-science criteria and transparent peer review over novelty or outcome, offering a home for excellent research that falls outside the remit of more established journals.

We are committed to open science, envisioning a research landscape where all rigorous results are shared, saving time, money, and resources by reducing duplication of unproductive paths. With rapid, streamlined publication processes, authors can share null results quickly, while upholding the same high standards expected across all Springer Nature journals.

“All valid research has a contribution to make – you never know what insight each article might lead to later down the line. We want to help provide the most robust scientific record possible.”

Dylan Parker, Publishing Director, Discover Journals at Springer Nature

Why publish null results with Discover?

The Discover journals represent a home for all good work across the diverse research community. Null results need to be shared, and they need to be shared globally. 
As fully OA journals, Discover journals ensure research is highly discoverable and immediately accessible to readers worldwide. This equitable access is crucial for addressing global challenges and promoting inclusive scientific development. It ensures your research reaches the communities that need it, not just those with more resources, and is more widely seen, used, and shared.
For early-career researchers and underrepresented communities, Discover journals offer an inclusive and collaborative platform to share all findings, regardless of outcome. And of course, these journals offer them the chance to equitably access these important publications, to support them in their work.
Being multidisciplinary in nature, Discover journals also transcend traditional research categories. They promote cross-disciplinary dialogue and recognise the unique intersections that lead to more comprehensive and impactful science. 
Attracting a broader community of contributors – across geographic, experience, and disciplinary divides – Discover journals enrich the scholarly community with a wider range of perspectives, stimulating new thinking.

Every contribution counts

By welcoming all research outcomes – positive or not – and promoting an open research culture where transparency, integrity, reproducibility, and fairness come first, Discover journals make room for bold, new directions. After all, incremental studies lay the foundations for the next big discovery.

Ready to start your Discover journey? Explore all of our journals or read the white paper The state of null results for further insights.

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