mla handbook research paper

MLA Guide (7th edition)

The examples provided in this guide are meant to introduce you to the basics of citing sources using the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (seventh edition). For types of resources not included in this guide (e.g., government documents, manuscript collections, video recordings) and for further information about the examples included below, please consult the MLA Handbook itself , and/or a Reference Librarian . For help with layout, margins, spacing and page numbering, see the MLA Handbook (Fig. 12, page 131). Consider using RefWorks to help you track your research and automatically create a bibliography in MLA style.

If you need help with the current version of MLA, please see the guide for MLA ( 8th edition, 2016). If you are unsure which version of MLA to use, please consult with your professor.

Table of Contents:

Parenthetical Documentation Preparing the List of Works Cited A Brief Note on Footnotes and Endnotes For More Help

PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

When using MLA documentation style, you need to reference your sources by using a combination of a list of works cited (see below) and parenthetical notation . Whenever you refer to or use another's words, facts or ideas in your paper, you are required to cite the source. Generally, brief parenthetical notations consisting of the author's last name and a page reference are sufficient. For example: (Drucker 30) .

Note: If you mention the author in your sentence, then you need only cite the page number . And if you cite more than one work by the same author , include the title of the work in your notation. For example: (Drucker, Management Cases 30) .

1. ONE AUTHOR

The character Folly denies satirizing Christianity when she says, "it is no part of my present plan to rummage through the lives of popes and priests," yet she spends much of her encomium doing just that (Erasmus 115).

2. TWO OR MORE AUTHORS

Max Weber purported that value systems could be studied "without the social scientist's own values distorting such studies" (Keat and Urry 196).

According to Russell Keat and John Urry in Social Science as Theory, Max Weber believed that value systems could be studied "without the social scientist's own values distorting such studies" (196).

Max Weber believed that individuals can objectively study values without their own values interfering with their judgment (Keat and Urry 196).

3. CORPORATE AUTHOR

Children of Central and Eastern Europe have not escaped the nutritional ramifications of iron deficiency, a worldwide problem (UNICEF 44).

4. NO AUTHOR

Marketers of health services and products will find the National Center for Health Statistics' site useful, particularly its statistics on mortality rates. Discovering a population's leading causes of death "tells the researcher a lot about its underlying health problems" ("Information to Die For" 40).

5. WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY

Cite the author of the essay or story and not the editor of the anthology unless they are the same.

Although some critics disliked Mel Brook's 1993 parody of Robin Hood, it is actually "in the mainstream of the Robin Hood tradition" (Knight 461).

6. INDIRECT QUOTATION

Chief Joseph concluded his surrender by stating eloquently: "[.. .] I will fight no more forever" (qtd. in Safire 108).

7. ONLINE RESOURCE

If the work is not paginated, include the name of the author or editor within the context of your sentence (for example, from a discussion list).

Posting on the VICTORIA listserv, Karen O'Connell mentioned a relevant novel by Wilkie Collins that deals with the 19th-century use of arsenic as a complexion improver.

If the work is paginated, cite it as you would a print resource.

Imagine that the sentences above could somehow be synthesized and used in a single paper. The works cited page would look like this:

WORKS CITED

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Praise of Folly. Trans. Clarence H. Miller. New Haven:

        Yale University Press, 1979. Print.

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.  ABI/Inform.

        Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Keat, Russell, and John Urry.   Social Theory as Science.   2nd ed.  London: Routledge

        and K. Paul, 1982.  Print.

Knight, Stephen.  "Robin Hood: Men in Tights: Fitting the Tradition Snugly."

        Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism.   Ed. Stephen

        Knight.  Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999.  461-467.  Print.

O'Connell, Karen.  "Re: Poisoning."  VICTORIA.  Indiana U.  3 Nov. 2000.  Web.

        14 Aug. 2009.

Safire, William.   Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. New York: W. W.

         Norton and Company, 1992. Print.

UNICEF.   Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the

         Former Soviet Union. Ed. Alexander Zouev. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1999.

         Print.

PREPARING THE LIST OF WORKS CITED

As demonstrated above, a works cited page consists of an alphabetical listing of the books, articles and other sources that you parenthetically noted in your paper. The works cited page occurs at the end of your paper; however, it is useful to create a draft of it before you begin writing. Following are typical examples of the types of references you will use in your research.

Include some or all of the following elements in your book citation:

• Author or editor
• Title (italicized)
• Translator or compiler
• Volume(s) used
• Name of series
• Place of publication, publisher, and date of publication
• Page numbers
• Name of vendor, database, or provider (italicized)
• Medium of publication consulted (e.g., Print)
• Date of access (Web only; day, month, year)
• Supplementary information and annotation

1. ONE AUTHOR OR EDITOR

Cather, Willa.   The Professor's House.   New York: A. A. Knopf, 1925.  Print.

UNICEF.   Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe

         and the Former Soviet Union.   Ed. Alexander Zouev.  Armonk: M. E.

         Sharpe, 1999.  Print.

Hudson, Valerie N., ed.   Culture and Foreign Policy.   Boulder: L. Rienner

         Publishers, 1997.  Print.

2. TWO OR MORE AUTHORS OR EDITORS

    Names should be given in the order in which they appear on the title page.

Keat, Russell, and John Urry. Social Theory as Science. 2nd ed. London: Routledge

         and K. Paul, 1982. Print.

Kennedy, Mary, Kathy Lubelska, and Val Walsh, eds. Making Connections: Women's

         Studies, Women's Movements, Women's Lives. London: Taylor and Francis,

        1993. Print.

3. ELECTRONIC BOOK

    Include the vendor, database, or provider's name (italicized) and date of access (day, month, year) .

Turam, Berna. Between Islam and the State: The Politics of Engagement. Stanford,

         CA: Stanford UP, 2007. NetLibrary. Web. 14 Aug. 2009.

     If the book is accessed from a SCHOLARLY PROJECT , also include the project     name, place of publication, and the date of the electronic publication if available.

Child, Lydia Maria. An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans.

        Boston: Allen and Ticknor, 1833. Women Writers Online. Brown U. Web. 14

        Aug. 2009.

4. ANTHOLOGY

Knight, Stephen.  "Robin Hood: Men in Tights: Fitting the Tradition Snugly."          

        Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism.   Ed. Stephen

Barrick, Richard, John Sullivan, and Alexander White.  "The American Bloody Register."

       Pillars of Salt: An Anthology of Early American Criminal Narratives.   Comp. 

       Daniel E. Williams.  Madison: Madison House, 1993.  233-258.  Print.

5. INTRODUCTION, PREFACE, FOREWORD, OR AFTERWORD

Ritterson, Michael.  Introduction.   The Odin Field: A Story. By Wilhem Raabe.

      Trans. Michael Ritterson.  Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture.

      Rochester: Camden House, 2001.  xi-xxvii.  Print.

6. MULTIVOLUME WORK

Tomkins, Silvan S.   Affect, Imagery, Consciousness.   4 vols.  New York: Springer,

         1962-1992. Print.

Anthony, Robert N., and James S. Reece.   Accounting Principles.   7th ed.  Chicago:

        Irwin, 1995.  Print.

8. TRANSLATION

Erasmus, Desiderius.   The Praise of Folly.   Trans.  Clarence H. Miller.  New Haven:

        Yale, 1979. Print.

9. ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK

"Audubon, John James."   The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia.   15th

        ed.  2002.  Print.

"Audubon, John James."   Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.   Encyclopaedia

        Britannica, 2009.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Ebeling, Richard, ed.   Global Free Trade: Rhetoric or Reality?  Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale

        College Press, 1993.  Print.  Champions of Freedom 20.

B. Articles in Periodicals

Include some or all of the following in your article citation:

• Article title (usually in quotation marks)
• Periodical title (italicized)
• Series/Issue number or name
• Volume number
• Issue number (if available)
• Publication date (year for scholarly journals; day, month, year for others, as available)
• Medium of publication
• Name of database (italicized and placed before medium of publication) (Web only)
• Date of access (day, month, year) (Web only)

1. SCHOLARLY JOURNAL

Freedman, L.  "The Changing Forms of Military Conflict."   Survival 40.4 (1998): 39-56.

        Print.

Kirby, John T.  "Aristotle on Metaphor."   American Journal of Philology 118.4

        (1997): 517-554.  Print.

Online Journal -- Use n. pag. to indicate the absence of inclusive page numbers.

Ketabgian, Tamara.  Rev. of The Body Economic: Life, Death, and Sensation in

        Political Economy and the Victorian Novel, by Catherine Gallagher.  Bryn Mawr

        Review of Comparative Literature 6.2 (2007): n. pag.  Web.  19 Aug. 2009.

Chan, Winnie.  "Curry on the Divide in Rudyard Kipling's Kim and Gurinder Chadha's

        Bend it Like Beckham."  ARIEL: A Review of International English

        Literature 36.3-4 (2005): 1-23. Web.  14. Aug. 2009.

      Full text of an article from a Database -- Include the name of the      database, the name of the database provider and the date of access.      Use n. pag. to indicate the absence of inclusive page numbers.   

Freedman, Lawrence. "The Changing Forms of Military Conflict." Survival 40.4 (1998):

        39-56. ProQuest Research Library.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

  Kirby, John T.  "Aristotle on Metaphor."   American Journal of Philology 118.4 (1997):

       517-554.  JSTOR.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

2. MAGAZINE

     Monthly or Bimonthly

Goldberger, Paul. "Machines for Living: Architectonic Allure of the Automobile."

        Architectural Digest Oct. 1996: 82.

     Weekly

Levy, Steven, and Brad Stone.  "Silicon Valley Reboots."   Newsweek 25 Mar.

        2002: 42-50.  Print.

        2002: 42-50.  Academic Search Premier.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

3. ANONYMOUS ARTICLE

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.  Print.

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.   ABI/Inform.        14 Aug. 2009.

4. NEWSPAPER

Pianin, Eric.  "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End."   The Washington Post 13

       Feb. 2002, final ed.: A2.  Print.

Pianin, Eric.  "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End."   The Washington Post 13 Feb.

       2002, final ed.: A2.  LexisNexis Academic.   Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Nash, Alanna.  "Hit 'em with a lizard!"  Rev. of   Basket Case, by Carl Hiaasen.  New

        York Times 3 Feb. 2002, late ed., sec. 7: 24.  Print.

        York Times 3 Feb.  2002, late ed., sec. 7: 24.  LexisNexis Academic.  Web.  14

C. Web Sites

Following are elements to include when citing entire Web sites. Keep in mind that

if you cannot find all of the elements, you should include whatever is available on the site . The URL is no longer required unless locating the site requires it or your professor requires it.

• Title of Web site (italicized)
• Site publisher/sponsor
• Date of site's publication (if none, use n.d. )
• Date of access (day, month, year)

1. SCHOLARLY PROJECT

Crane, Gregory, ed.  Perseus Digital Library.  Dept. of the Classics, Tufts U.

      n.d.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

2. PROFESSIONAL SITE

Financial Accounting Standards Board .  Feb. 2002.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

3. PERSONAL SITE

Lewis, Paul.  The Wilkie Collins Pages.   n.d.  Web. 14 Aug. 2009. 

       <http://www.paullewis.co.uk/>.

See also Electronic Book and Periodicals above.

D. Online Postings

To cite a posting from a discussion list, include the following elements if available:

• Author of posting
• Title of posting (from subject line of posting, in quotes)
• Name of discussion list
• Date of posting
• 5. Medium of publication
• Date of access

O'Connell, Karen.  "Re: Poisoning." VICTORIA. Indiana U.  3 Nov. 2000. Web.

A BRIEF NOTE ON FOOTNOTES AND ENDNOTES

Long explanatory footnotes or endnotes can distract the reader. Nevertheless, you may occasionally need to clarify a citation with a bibliographic note . Or you may wish to incorporate information that might interest your reader but which would seem tangential if included within the text of your paper. In this case, you would use a content note. Notes are indicated with consecutive superscript numbers within the text of your paper. The actual note is indented and can occur either as a footnote at the bottom of the page or as an endnote at the end of the paper.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE

Nineteenth-century critics of cheap, mass-produced fiction feared that the gory subject matter of stories like Sweeney Todd would lead a generation of youth into depravity. 1

          1 For a selection of penny fiction as well as 19th-century criticism of it, see

Haining's The Penny Dreadful .

2. CONTENT NOTE

Charles Knight did not rely solely on the cheaply printed word in publications like the Penny Magazine to educate people; he also mass-produced images to diffuse knowledge visually. 2

2 Patricia Anderson's The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860 provides examples of Penny Magazine images, such as depictions of flamingos, reproduced portraits of people like Benjamin Franklin, and engravings of famous artworks like "The Dying Gladiator" and "Laocoon" (50-83).

FOR MORE HELP

Following are links to sites that have additional information and further examples:

• RefWorks : Once you have created an account, go to Tools/Preview Output Style to see examples of MLA style.
• Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) : Excellent source for research, writing and citation tips.
• Citing Sources : Duke University's guide to citing sources. The site offers comparison citation tables with examples from APA , Chicago , MLA and Turabian for both print and electronic works.
• Citing Electronic Primary Sources : From the Library of Congress. Provides MLA and Turabian examples of citing formats such as films, photographs, maps and recorded sound that are accessed electronically.

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MLA Ninth Edition: What's New and Different

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the MLA Handbook (i.e., MLA 9), which released in April 2021. The equivalent resource for the older MLA 8   can be found here .

The Modern Language Association (MLA) updated its style manual in April 2021. The MLA Handbook is a living document hoping to meet the ever-changing needs of writers while creating uniform standards for documentation. By updating and clarifying these standards, MLA seeks to build trust in the information and ideas we share. By helping us express our ideas in a standard way in which varieties of readers can understand where we found our information and how we chose to express our own ideas, MLA hopes in an age of mistrust of information, we can use their standards to legitimize our writings. However, MLA continues to emphasize that these guidelines are simply that: guidelines. Specific circumstances, such as class formatting instructions, project demands, and additional relevant information, may give cause for appropriate deviation, something the MLA encourages.  

This 9th edition focuses on clarification, guidance, and expansion on MLA 8, an edition that featured extensive changes. The use of core elements for Works Cited was designed to be more user-friendly, with built-in flexibility that allows writers to cite their sources in ways that works best for their specific projects. MLA 9, however, provides more guidance and focus for those seeking it after the last update, especially warranted with emerging sources, digital and otherwise. While retaining the overhauled system of core elements for documentation of MLA 8, MLA 9 responds to feedback asking for clarification and expansion on the meaning of each category (1. Author, 2. Title of Source, 3. Title of Container, 4. Contributor, 5. Version, 6. Number, 7. Publisher, 8. Publication Date, 9. Location) in different contexts of documentation. 

  Major Changes in the 9th Edition

While the rest of this overview will go into more detail regarding individual changes in this edition, the major changes are as follows:

• More guidance on how to use MLA core elements to create a Works Cited list by explaining the definition of each element in different types of documents (it will not always be literal), where to find each element, and how to style it. The MLA 9 was designed so that the core element strategy will become even more accessible through more examples and explanations, such as how to use notes, websites, interviews, and YouTube videos. 
• A deeper dive into in-text citations, a category many users expressed struggles with.
• Reintroduction of MLA guidance on research papers, absent in MLA 8, with expanded instructions.
• A new chapter on inclusive language.
• Expanded guidelines on grammar mechanics.

Research Projects

After a brief, 1-edition reprieve, MLA 9 has reintroduced their guidelines for formatting a research paper. General formatting guidance has remained consistent from MLA 7 while this edition expands upon table, illustration, and list formatting. 

Grammar and Mechanics

Updates have been provided on spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and use of italics in prose. MLA 9 confirms that various spellings are acceptable but must be used consistently, except in quotations from another text. It also provides guidance on using plurals correctly. It provides in-depth examples of the correct and incorrect uses of commas, colons, dashes and parentheses, hyphens, apostrophes, and slashes. The chapter also asserts the use of italics for emphasis, word references, letters referred to as letters, and foreign words. Finally, MLA provides extensive examples of how to correctly format names of persons, organizations or groups, titles of works, and numbers into your writing. 

Inclusive Language

This new chapter on inclusive language recommends focusing on relevance, precision, respectfulness, thoughtfulness, and awareness of exclusionary pronouns, judgement, and offensive terms. Through these general principles, writers are encouraged to think critically about their language, contexts, and audiences. 

Plagiarism Guidance

This section focuses on recognizing and avoiding plagiarism through quoting, paraphrasing, and identifying when documentation is optional. It expands beyond common knowledge as a reason for omitting documentation and introduces passing mentions, allusions, and epigraphs. 

Works Cited Page

Works Cited guidance is one of the most widely-used elements of the MLA Handbook. Appropriately, this section features the most updates, responsive to users seeking more guidance, details, and examples on the aforementioned MLA 8 overhaul that introduced the core element template. Consequently, each element is defined, including the range of situations it applies to. There is also guidance on how to find information, such as “publication” in a variety of sources. Finally, more advice is given on how to style details of these elements in a Works Cited. 

Added Guidance on Core Template Elements

• Author : how to cite pseudonyms, name changes, and stage names; how to cite works by the same author published under different names; and how to style the names of authors of government publications.
• Title of source : how to provide a description instead of a title; how to effectively and appropriately shorten a title; how to list titled and untitled front and back information, such as introduction, foreword, and afterword; and how to use mechanics to correctly style titles of various sources including website containers, apps, and databases. 
• Contributor (formerly “Other Contributors”) : how to distinguish between key and other contributors; and how to document a source with multiple, same-role contributors. 
• Versions : how to identify the “version” in various types of works including e-books.
• Number : how to find “number” in various works such as books, print journals, database articles, PDF journal articles, television shows, and podcasts; how to style numbers through form (spelled out, numerals, numbers) and mechanics within the Works Cited page.
• Publisher : how to identify what constitutes a publisher; how to list governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations; and how to abbreviate publishers’ names.
• Publication Date : how to identify what constitutes non-traditional date types, such as personal letters, revisions of online works, attendance of live events, and the label “forthcoming” for works yet to be published; dictates to lowercase season with publication date, for example, fall, 2021. 
• Location : how to find location in print, online, unique works viewed or heard firsthand, and physical media other than print works; it also makes URLs optional.

Supplemental Elements

Beyond the core elements are supplemental elements, previously titled “Optional Elements.” The change in name reflects the fact that different circumstances will dictate whether or not these elements are necessary for readers. 

In-Text Citations

While the guidance regarding in-text citation has not changed, the MLA 9’s adjusted approach seeks to reduce the confusion about in-text citations. This chapter explains the need for unambiguous, consistent references to the Works Cited. It also expands on how to style parenthetical citations with quotation marks. A new section, “When Author and Title are not Enough,” helps users navigate works when an author has more than one work of the same title. Finally, expanded guidance on subheads, multiple works, referencing items such as symbols or figure numbers, and quoting the same passage multiple times has been added. 

This new section explains when and how to use notes to provide commentary or additional information. It also explains where and how to place notes in text. 

Annotated Bibliographies

A section has been added that offers guidance for annotated bibliographies. Annotations are succinct descriptions and/or evaluations of a source. Sources should be styled no differently from a list of works cited. However, annotations should be appended at the end of an entry, with one-inch indentations from where the entry begins. Annotations may be written as concise phrases or complete sentences and typically do not exceed one paragraph.

This update includes fewer large overhauls to the methods of MLA 8. MLA 9 instead focuses on providing specificities and examples to each element. This version continues giving writers freedom to judge the appropriate information needed for their specific projects while adding more guidance for readers looking for it. Through MLA 9, users will better understand the following:

• What the core elements look like in different types of works, both traditional and nontraditional.
• How to use in-text citations effectively.
• How to be conscious of the effect on various audiences of gender-specific terms, stereotyped language, people-first language, pronouns, and capitalization.
• What does and does not constitute plagiarism.
• How to format a research paper.
• How to correctly use grammar mechanics.

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MLA Handbook 9th Edition

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Description retrieved from the Modern Language Association website at:   https://www.mla.org/Publications/Bookstore/Nonseries/MLA-Handbook-Ninth-Edition

Relied on by generations of writers, the  MLA Handbook  is published by the Modern Language Association and is the only official, authorized book on MLA style. The new, ninth edition builds on the MLA’s unique approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements—facts, common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date—that allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, social media posts, dissertations, and more. With this focus on source evaluation as the cornerstone of citation, MLA style promotes the skills of information and digital literacy so crucial today. 

The many new and updated chapters make this edition the comprehensive, go-to resource for writers of research papers, and anyone citing sources, from business writers, technical writers, and freelance writers and editors to student writers and the teachers and librarians working with them. Intended for a variety of classroom contexts—middle school, high school, and college courses in composition, communication, literature, language arts, film, media studies, digital humanities, and related fields—the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook offers 

• New chapters on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, numbers, italics, abbreviations, and principles of inclusive language
• Guidelines on setting up research papers in MLA format with updated advice on headings, lists, and title pages for group projects
• Revised, comprehensive, step-by-step instructions for creating a list of works cited  in MLA format that are easier to learn and use than ever before
• A new appendix with hundreds of example works-cited-list entries by publication format, including Web sites, YouTube videos, interviews, and more
• Detailed examples of how to find publication information for a variety of sources
• Newly revised explanations of in-text citations, including comprehensive advice on how to cite multiple authors of a single work
• Detailed guidance on footnotes and endnotes 
• Instructions on quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, and avoiding plagiarism 
• A sample essay in MLA format
• Annotated bibliography examples
• Numbered sections throughout for quick navigation
• Advanced tips for professional writers and scholars

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• MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) Websites, pages on websites, eBooks, images, eArticles, social media...
• MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources Interviews; speeches, lectures, or presentations; panel discussions; painting, sculpture, or photograph; conference proceedings, song or album; film or movie; podcasts; digital files
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In 2023, Google awarded a total of US$10 million to researchers who found vulnerabilities in its products. Why? Because allowing errors to go undetected could be much costlier. Data breaches could lead to refund claims, reduced customer trust or legal liability.

It’s not just private technology companies that invest in such ‘bug bounty’ programmes. Between 2016 and 2021, the US Department of Defense awarded more than US$650,000 to people who found weaknesses in its networks .

Just as many industries devote hefty funding to incentivizing people to find and report bugs and glitches, so the science community should reward the detection and correction of errors in the scientific literature. In our industry, too, the costs of undetected errors are staggering.

Retractions are increasing, but not enough

That’s why I have joined with meta-scientist Ian Hussey at the University of Bern and psychologist Ruben Arslan at Leipzig University in Germany to pilot a bug-bounty programme for science, funded by the University of Bern. Our project, Estimating the Reliability and Robustness of Research (ERROR), pays specialists to check highly cited published papers, starting with the social and behavioural sciences (see go.nature.com/4bmlvkj ). Our reviewers are paid a base rate of up to 1,000 Swiss francs (around US$1,100) for each paper they check, and a bonus for any errors they find. The bigger the error, the greater the reward — up to a maximum of 2,500 francs.

Authors who let us scrutinize their papers are compensated, too: 250 francs to cover the work needed to prepare files or answer reviewer queries, and a bonus 250 francs if no errors (or only minor ones) are found in their work.

ERROR launched in February and will run for at least four years. So far, we have sent out almost 60 invitations, and 13 sets of authors have agreed to have their papers assessed. One review has been completed , revealing minor errors.

I hope that the project will demonstrate the value of systematic processes to detect errors in published research. I am convinced that such systems are needed, because current checks are insufficient.

Structure peer review to make it more robust

Unpaid peer reviewers are overburdened , and have little incentive to painstakingly examine survey responses, comb through lists of DNA sequences or cell lines, or go through computer code line by line. Mistakes frequently slip through. And researchers have little to gain personally from sifting through published papers looking for errors. There is no financial compensation for highlighting errors , and doing so can see people marked out as troublemakers.

Yet failing to keep abreast of this issue comes at a huge cost. Imagine a single PhD student building their work on an erroneous finding. In Switzerland, their cumulative salary alone will run to six figures. Flawed research that is translated into health care, policymaking or engineering can harm people. And there are opportunity costs — for every grant awarded to a project unknowingly building on errors, another project is not pursued.

Like technology companies, stakeholders in science must realize that making error detection and correction part of the scientific landscape is a sound investment.

Funders, for instance, have a vested interest in ensuring that the money that they distribute as grants is not wasted. Publishers stand to improve their reputations by ensuring that some of their resources are spent on quality management. And, by supporting these endeavours, scientific associations could help to foster a culture in which acknowledgement of errors is considered normal — or even commendable — and not a mark of shame.

How ‘research impact bonds’ could transform science funding

I know that ERROR is a bold experiment. Some researchers might have qualms. I’ve been asked whether reviewers might exaggerate the gravity of errors in pursuit of a large bug bounty, or attempt to smear a colleague they dislike. It’s possible, but hyperbole would be a gamble, given that all reviewer reports are published on our website and are not anonymized. And we guard against exaggeration. A ‘recommender’ from among ERROR’s staff and advisory board members — none of whom receive a bounty — acts as an intermediary, weighing up reviewer findings and author responses before deciding on the payout.

Another fair criticism is that ERROR’s paper selection will be biased. The ERROR team picks papers that are highly cited and checks them only if the authors agree to it. Authors who suspect their work might not withstand scrutiny could be less likely to opt in. But selecting papers at random would introduce a different bias, because we would be able to assess only those for which some minimal amount of data and code was freely available. And we’d spend precious resources checking some low-impact papers that only a few people build research on.

My goal is not to prove that a bug-bounty programme is the best mechanism for correcting errors, or that it is applicable to all science. Rather, I want to start a conversation about the need for dedicated investment in error detection and correction. There are alternatives to bug bounties — for instance, making error detection its own viable career path and hiring full-time scientific staff to check each institute’s papers. Of course, care would be needed to ensure that such schemes benefited researchers around the world equally.

Scholars can’t expect errors to go away by themselves. Science can be self-correcting — but only if we invest in making it so.

Nature 629 , 730 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01465-y

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The author declares no competing interests.

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