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Open Research

Outlines resources and strategies to make one's research, data, and publications open.

What, why, how

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What is open research?

"a collection of actions designed to make scientific processes more transparent and results more accessible" 

(Spellman, B., Gilbert, E. A., & Corker, K. S., 2018)

Why should I care about making my research open?

Table: Open research practices and the career benefits they confer. Definitions are lifted from [43]

Open Research Practice Advantages
Open Access
  • Higher citation rates and improves the speed and breadth of dissemination of scholarly outputs [44, 45]
Open Data
  • Facilitates collaboration [46]
  • increases efficiency and sustainability [47]
  • Published papers linked with open data and/or materials are associated with a higher citation rate on average [23, 45, 48]
  • When published with a digital object identifier (DOI), open data and/or materials can be a citable publication [49]; synthetic datasets can help cross-validate analysis and improve reproducibility of analysis workflows [50]
Preprints
  • Wider, faster, and cheaper dissemination of research [52]
  • Greater opportunity for feedback outside of formal peer-review [24]
  • Posting a manuscript as a preprint before formal publication can increase citations and impact [53, 54]
  • improves chances of publication in journals with high impact factors [55]
Open methods/pregistration
  • Boost a researcher’s reputation [56]
  • Preventative measure against post-hoc critique (i.e., CARKing—critiquing after the results are known) during peer-review [39, 57, 58]
  • Prospective registration of a study design can be a citable publication
  • Comply with submissions guidelines set by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
Registered reports
  • Guaranteed publication regardless of study results, providing the registered protocol and/or analysis is followed [59]
  • Reduces CARKing [39, 57, 58]
  • Cited at comparable or slightly higher levels than conventional peer-reviewed articles [60]
  • Stage one peer-review provides additional peer-review feedback

 

Further reading

Boyle, Neasa, Centeno, Eduarda, Dierkes, Jens, Heyard, Rachel, Kao, Joyce, Lakshminarayanan, Harini, Pöschel, Franz, & Seibold, Heidi. (2023). Open Science: Principles and Practices. Zenodo. 

Kathawalla, U. K., Silverstein, P., & Syed, M. (2021). Easing into open science: A guide for graduate students and their advisors. Collabra: Psychology, 7(1).

Kowalczyk, O.S., Lautarescu, A., Blok, E. et al. (2022) What senior academics can do to support reproducible and open research: a short, three-step guide. BMC Research Notes 15 (116).

Pownall, M., Azevedo, F., König, L. M., Slack, H. R., Evans, T. R., Flack, Z., … F. (2022, April 8). The impact of open and reproducible scholarship on students’ scientific literacy, engagement, and attitudes towards science: A review and synthesis of the evidence. (preprint)

Spellman, B., Gilbert, E. A., & Corker, K. S. (2017, April 18). Open Science: What, Why, and How. 

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