AdvanSci hosts ReproducibiliTea Game Night: play, debate, and rethinking research

At AdvanSci, we love great science - and we love sparking conversations that push it forward. Last week, we had the pleasure of not only participating in but also hosting a special ReproducibiliTea game night.

For those who are new to ReproducibiliTea, it’s an international journal club initiative designed to bring researchers together to talk openly about science - the good, the bad, and the messy parts that don’t always make it into papers. Usually, the format revolves around reading and discussing a selected paper after inviting a speaker to present one. But this time, we swapped slides for cards and theory for strategy, and the results were brilliant.

Science meets play!

We gathered in a cozy room, snacks and fika at hand, and dove into two research-themed board games: the Dilemma Game and Publish or Perish. Both of them explore real challenges in academic life but in different ways, with Publish or Perish being a card game where players race to publish papers while dealing with unpredictable academic events, and the Dilemma Game being a discussion-based game that presents real-life research dilemmas and offers possible actions for players to choose from, encouraging debate and reflection on ethics and research culture. (Curious to learn how to play? You can read more about them here and here!)

Gaming might seem like a break from science, but it’s surprisingly effective at making people think differently and talk more openly. When play is placed in the right context, it disarms hierarchy and invites curiosity. That’s exactly what happened - the games sparked surprising, deep conversations about the challenges that we face in academia and research culture.

Dilemmas are rarely simple…

One takeaway from the night? Research dilemmas almost never have one clear answer. Each decision involves nuance and trade-offs, and talking them through with peers can uncover creative ways forward.

Playing both games made this clear: some of the cards of the Publish or Perish game were funny at a first glance, but we believe they pointed to real life scenarios that researchers face. For instance, some described scenarios where researchers accidentally cite papers that don’t exist - one even referenced a hallucinated ChatGPT citation. It sounds absurd and funny… but it’s not impossible. For example, a made-up reference recently garnered almost 400 citations, believe it or not! (1) Accidents like this might become more frequent and harder to detect, particularly in a world where AI language models are increasingly shaping research productivity (P.S. ... stay tuned for another blog post about the ethical use of AI in research! 🤓).

Other scenarios brought us towards deeper ethical questions, from authorship to how we talk about research integrity.

What stood out most was that there is rarely a single correct way forward. These conversations reminded us that responsible research is complex, and spaces like ReproducibiliTea matter because they let us think critically together.

Why we’ll keep playing

Beyond the laughter and the snacks, the night left us energized and thoughtful. Games made it easy to bring tricky topics - like research integrity, authorship, and publishing pressure - into the open and without judgment. They helped us imagine better ways to approach real scientific problems and build community around shared values of rigor and curiosity.

We are grateful to everyone who joined and contributed their insights. Hosting this ReproducibiliTea session reminded us that building a healthier research culture can start with something as simple (and fun) as drawing cards together!

We are looking forward to more science, more conversation - and, of course, to more game nights! 😉

References

1. Stern, V. (2017). The “phantom reference:” How a made-up article got almost 400 citations. Retraction Watch, November 14. URL: https://retractionwatch.com/2017/11/14/phantom-reference-made-article-got-almost-400-citations/ (retrieved on 03.10.2025)

Author

Francesca Gatto is a PhD candidate in immuno-oncology at Karolinska Institutet and an intern in Communication and Outreach at AdvanSci. She is passionate about promoting constructive debate and making science engaging and accessible to everyone, helping create a more inclusive, informed, and aware society.

Editor

Jane Fisher, PhD, is a co-founder of AdvanSci Research Solutions. She is passionate about practical solutions that enhance human health and improve the quality of biomedical research.