Reproducible Research in Vadose Zone Sciences

Abstract

© Soil Science Society of America. A significant portion of present-day soil and Earth science research is computational, involving complex data analysis pipelines, advanced mathematical and statistical models, and sophisticated computer codes. Opportunities for scientific progress are greatly diminished if reproducing and building on published research is difficult or impossible due to the complexity of these computational systems. Vadose Zone Journal (VZJ) is launching a Reproducible Research (RR) program in which code and data underlying a research article will be published alongside the article, thereby enabling readers to analyze data in a manner similar to that presented in the article and build on results in future research and applications. In this article, we discuss reproducible research, its background and use across other disciplines, its value to the scientific community, and its implementation in VZJ.