The Center of Trial and Error

Creating transparent and responsible scholarship.

We are a non-profit organization experimenting with innovative publishing activities. The Center provides a space for independent reflection on academic practice and stimulates students and early career researchers to disrupt existing scholarly infrastructures.

What Do We Do?

Discussing

Discussing

We define “trial and error” as methodological flaws and conceptual errors in research.

The Center facilitates a reflective discussion on these issues with our blog and by encouraging empirical research and cross-disciplinary conceptual work.

Publishing

A drawing of a book

Publishing

We aim to publicize the lessons of research struggles, publish answers to the question “what went wrong?”, and independently host non-profit pre-press services.

Two branches of the Center, the Journal of Trial and Error and the Publishers of Trial and Error, are dedicated to this mission.

Training

A drawing of a lecture

Training

Institutional change results from well-equipped young people, creating a mass from below.

As such, training is one of our most important activities. We focus efforts to educate students on the systemic and organisational structures of science and scholarship to make change a practical reality.

What's New?

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Cultures of Trial and Error
Self, Correction, and Science in Conflict-Laden Science

Sergio Sismondo
Culture of Trial and Error|October 05, 2025
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Cultures of Trial and Error
Engines of Science Correction in the Biosciences - And How They Sometimes Run Out of Steam

Melpomeni (Melina) Antonakaki
open call|September 01, 2025
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Cultures of Trial and Error
Hoaxes, Thought Experiments & Science Sleuths Sniffing Out Ways to Correct the Scientific Record

Mady Barbeitas
Culture of Trial and Error|June 29, 2025
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The "Function" of Art?
Challenges of Setting Up Artistic Research Residencies in Elderly Care Institutions

Falk HübnerGjilke KeuningMarijke Lucas
empirical|June 04, 2025