Experts have suggested the technology behind Bitcoin should not merely be viewed as a craze but instead can improve reproducibility and stop data tampering.

In fact, Blockchain technology, which aims to store and simplify online records while keeping track of who has done or who owns what, could have a huge impact on the scholarly publishing world.

The author of a recent report focusing on Digital Science and the potential for blockchain in research, Joris Van Rossum, commented that such technology would have an overwhelming impact on scientific processes. He added that Blockchain technology could be used to develop databases that trace every stage of scientific development, making it more challenging to create false data and simpler to copy to results.

Founder of the Berlin-based thinktank Blockchain for Science, Sönke Bartling agreed with this opinion and said that storing scientific results on Blockchain would make it much more difficult to fake data. Using this system would mean that researchers would be required to store every piece of data on the Blockchain as the work was conducted, making it much harder to manipulate the results.

However, not everyone agrees. Dr Bartling said that while this may solve one part of the scientific process, there are still other pieces of information that need confirming.