MCRP: A Prospective, Claim-Versioned Verification Lifecycle for Computational Research

Abstract

Computational research records can expose code and outputs without identifying which execution supports a claim, which dependencies remain trusted, or who authorized acceptance. We propose the Minimum Credible Reproducibility Protocol (MCRP), a prospective, externally enforced, claim-versioned lifecycle for an immutable Scientific Record Release. It composes established claim, provenance, archival, and review mechanisms while distinguishing machine evidence, reviewer-controlled execution, and qualified human scientific disposition. The specification defines conservative change propagation and carry-forward eligibility bound to exact claim contracts, current approval, and separately authorized scope-delta review. This revision adds a complete worked assurance-predicate inventory, executable assessment examples, a six-coordinate resource-reporting template with explicit unknown and overlap handling, and a bounded RO-Crate 1.2-profile export/import example with a preservation/loss inventory. A worked amendment explains why identical claim text does not establish unchanged evidence or continued approval. We withdraw unrecoverable historical test counts and separately document 20 public prototype tests and executable revision-semantics counterexamples. New toy implementations exercise assurance assignment, resource comparisons, transport boundaries, and offered-denominator evaluation measures. All development and internal adversarial review were author-directed agent work; these checks do not establish scientific validity, real-world effectiveness, or independent interoperability. We specify a minimum independent study with simpler review baselines, unaffected controls, and explicit refusal, abstention, timeout, and missing outcomes. Agent-only work can produce pending-review records but cannot satisfy human scientific disposition. MCRP remains a testable policy proposal, not a certification standard or validated intervention.

Keywords