Replicability as a Contextual Concept: Rethinking the Replicability Crisis in Science

Articles in Press

Document Type : علمی - پژوهشی

Authors

1 Sharif university of technology - department of philosophy of science

2 philosophy of science, sharif university

10.30471/mssh.2025.11008.2642

Abstract

The replication crisis constitutes one of the foundational challenges in contemporary science, challenging the legitimacy of scientific findings. Employing philosophical analysis and a critical review of scholarly discourse in this field, the present study argues that replicability is not a uniform, universal epistemic criterion but rather a context-dependent concept shaped by the type of science, institutional structures, and non-epistemic values. By examining perspectives from scholars such as Leonelli, Guttinger, Bird, and Amrhein, the article demonstrates that the replication crisis stems not merely from methodological weaknesses but from divergent definitions and expectations of replication. Indeed, distinct epistemic expectations regarding replication exist across different scientific domains. Consequently, rethinking the status of replicability could yield implications for the scientific community, fostering attention to the epistemic, institutional, and ethical differences among scientific disciplines and enabling the definition of frameworks tailored to the specific exigencies of each field. In this article, we introduce a novel approach that identifies a spectrum of diverse replication types across the sciences, and through this approach, we propose a more precise methodology for evaluating scientific research.

Keywords

Methodology of Social Sciences and Humanities

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 June 2025

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