APS Research is the scholarly programme through which APS claims, methods, and applications are developed, compared with existing work, tested against evidence and alternatives, and made available for critical assessment.
It brings together peer-reviewed publications, preprints, deposited papers, completed APS Research, and substantive work in development where appropriate. Every item is identified by status so that completion, public availability, and external peer review are not confused.
Research is the programme; the Publications page records its formally released scholarly outputs; and the Articles collection communicates the framework and its applications across the wider APS website.
Featured Research
Agency as the Defining Activity of Life: A Viability-Oriented Framework Integrating Process and Scale
Status: Peer-reviewed publication
The foundational peer-reviewed presentation of APS as a viability-oriented framework for understanding life. It argues that biological agency is the defining activity through which living organisation sustains itself across process and scale.
Spencer, R. D. (2026). Biological Theory.
Comparative Explanatory Methodology in Theoretical Biology
Status: Completed APS Research
Establishes a common analytical protocol for comparing organisational research programmes through their explanatory targets, organising principles, explanatory priorities, conceptual architectures, domains of strength, and explanatory scope.
Auditing Dependency Claims in Biological Explanation: A Comparative Method and Three-Case Test
Status: Completed APS Research
Develops and tests a relation-sensitive, materially explicit procedure for assessing heterogeneous biological dependency claims. Its planarian positive result, Pristionchus pacificus transfer result, and glucose-homeostasis null test the method’s diagnostic capacity, transferability, and principled refusal of explanatory gain.
Publications and Preprints
The APS publication record includes peer-reviewed work, preprints, and scholarly papers deposited in recognised repositories. Each output is labelled according to its publication and review status.
Completed APS Research
Completed APS Research presents substantial, referenced investigations developed to scholarly standards and published through APS_WEB. Completion indicates that an investigation has reached a stable research form; it does not imply external peer review or independent confirmation.
Comparative Explanatory Methodology in Theoretical Biology
Status: Completed APS Research
Develops a disciplined method for comparing biological research programmes without reducing their different explanatory priorities to a single theory or standard of explanation.
Auditing Dependency Claims in Biological Explanation: A Comparative Method and Three-Case Test
Status: Completed APS Research
Applies a common dependency-hypothesis audit to planarian regeneration, Pristionchus pacificus mouth-form polyphenism, and mammalian glucose homeostasis. The differentiated positive, transfer, and null outcomes test whether the procedure changes defensible explanatory assessments without manufacturing improvement where established accounts are already sufficient.
Research Standards
APS Research distinguishes established findings from APS methodological contributions. Claims are assessed through comparison with the strongest available explanations, attention to material evidence and inferential limits, consideration of alternatives and scope, and explicit failure conditions.
Conceptual coherence is not treated as empirical confirmation. APS earns scientific credibility only insofar as its explanatory connections can be identified, assessed, qualified, revised, or rejected.
Explore the Wider APS Platform
- Articles presents the wider explanatory corpus.
- Publications records formally released scholarly outputs.
- Citation Policy explains how APS publications, research papers, and website resources should be cited.
The APS Framework is the research and explanatory platform through which these differentiated resources are organised and made publicly available.