Open science

Registering studies before the actual research is carried out promotes transparency by enabling a distinction between confirmatory and exploratory analyses. Regardless of the study type, the Open Science Framework offers researchers a free platform to enable these aims by registering studies, storing data during and after a project, and sharing it with other researchers. Specific platforms exist for systematic reviews and clinical trials. Your data steward can inform you about alternatives, based upon your needs. 

Data management should follow FAIR principles to the extent possible. Generally, for each project or publication, the final data (on which the reported analyses are based) should be stored. When applicable, syntaxes should be available for all results reported and co-authors should be able to access original data and syntaxes on which a study manuscript is based. Syntaxes can be made available as part of a replication package that allows others to replicate the steps you made in the analyses. An example of more detailed recommendations in line with full disclosure can be found here). GitHub is a popular collaborative platform to share, develop, publish and maintain analysis code and documentation.

As part of adherence to open science principles, all research results should be reported to ensure transparency, accurate representation of collective evidence, and avoid wasteful duplication of research, regardless of the nature of the results.

• The EQUATOR network provides reporting guidelines for several types of study.
• For qualitative research, we recommend the COREQ checklist.

• The US National Library of Medicine provides links to many other useful resources.

   

Note that specific publication choices can and will have consequences for which guidelines apply. 

Open access publishing is an important part of open science; whenever possible, research should be published open access, ensuring that research results are available to all. Some projects will not have funding for open access publication fees, in which case institutional repositories should be used to store a freely available version. We recommend using the UM Library service Taverne – You share, we care! (free, and opt-in only) to automatically share paywalled publications in accordance with Dutch copyright law. 

The openness of open science is not only about sharing materials or outcomes but also refers to the attitude of scientists relative to other social partners: stakeholders, citizens, policymakers and others. The potential for this kind of openness is very diverse, connected to subject matter, community and methods used. Societal stakeholders can be informed and involved to varying degrees in all stages of research. They can be involved in setting research agendas, gathering data and conducting research, and in science communication. Public engagement: a practical guide: A five-step approach to public engagement by the NHS National Institute for Health Research. This is a practical guide for researchers on involving the public in working out how to communicate findings - from the earliest stages of projects, and on the most challenging of subjects.

Researchers should be wary of the risk of “predatory journals” which offer easy publication for a fee but are not reputable or respected. Read more about this.

For more information on open science, please visit the Open Science-information page of Maastricht University.