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Rampant software errors may undermine scientific results.

ABSTRACT: The opportunities for both subtle and profound errors in software and data management are boundless, yet they remain surprisingly underappreciated. Here I estimate that any reported scientific result could very well be wrong if data have passed through a computer, and that these errors may remain largely undetected. It is therefore necessary to greatly expand our efforts to validate scientific software and computed results.

SUBMITTER: Soergel DA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4629271 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rampant software errors may undermine scientific results.

Soergel David A W DA

F1000Research 20141211

The opportunities for both subtle and profound errors in software and data management are boundless, yet they remain surprisingly underappreciated. Here I estimate that any reported scientific result could very well be wrong if data have passed through a computer, and that these errors may remain largely undetected. It is therefore necessary to greatly expand our efforts to validate scientific software and computed results. ...[more]

PMID: 26539290

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