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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Reflections on Preregistration
Core Criteria, Badges, Complementary Workflows

Robert T. ThibaultCharlotte R. PenningtonMarcus R. Munafò
meta-research|May 15, 2023
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Driven to Snack
Simulated Driving Increases Subsequent Consumption

Floor van MeerStephen MurphyWilhelm HofmannHenk van SteenbergenLotte F. van Dillen
empirical|April 24, 2023
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Call for Anecdotes
Serendipity in Scientific Practice

Stefan GaillardMichelle Moonen
open call|April 13, 2023
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Digital Nudges
A Reflection of Challenges and Improvements Inspired by the Gloria Adherence Subproject

David Grüning
empirical|April 06, 2023