Collaborative infrastructure for test-driven scientific model validation

Abstract

One of the pillars of the modern scientific method is model validation: comparing a scientific model's predictions against empirical observations. Today, a scientist demonstrates the validity of a model by making an argument in a paper and submitting it for peer review, a process comparable to code review in software engineering. While human review helps to ensure that contributions meet high-level goals, software engineers typically supplement it with unit testing to get a more complete picture of the status of a project.