Fundamental to much work in small-x QCD is a k_T-factorization formula. Normal expectations in theoretical physics are that when such a result is used, citations should be given to where the formula is justified. We demonstrate by examining the chain
s of citations back from current work that violations of this expectation are widespread, to the extent that following the citation chains, we do not find a proof or other justification of the formula. This shows a substantial deficit in the reproducibility of a phenomenologically important area of research. Since the published formulae differ in normalization, we test them by making a derivation in a simple model that obeys the assumptions that are stated in the literature to be the basis of k_T-factorization in the small-$x$ regime. We find that we disagree with two of the standard normalizations.
