Open science saves lives: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the last decade Open Science principles have been successfully advocated for and are being slowly adopted in different research communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic many publishers and researchers have sped up their adoption of Open Science practices, sometimes embracing them fully and sometimes partially or in a sub-optimal manner. In this article, we express concerns about the violation of some of the Open Science principles and its potential impact on the quality of research output. We provide evidence of the misuses of these principles at different stages of the scientific process. We call for a wider adoption of Open Science practices in the hope that this work will encourage a broader endorsement of Open Science principles and serve as a reminder that science should always be a rigorous process, reliable and transparent, especially in the context of a pandemic where research findings are being translated into practice even more rapidly. We provide all data and scripts at https://osf.io/renxy/.

Open access in geochemistry from preprints to data sharing: past, present and future

“…The existing system, which is run by a few for-profit publishers, has grown prohibitively expensive for our universities. Preprints deposited in open archives can be distributed quickly, however the quality of these preprints must be guaranteed (Besançon et al, 2021). With the extensive use of social media, research is being disseminated at a rapid pace.…”

The importance of trustworthiness: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

“… 26 An even greater adoption of Open Science principles may counter the misuse of preprints and peer-reviewed articles and address the “reproducibility crisis” that undermines trust. 27 Furthermore, an emphasis on equity in scientific review provides assurances that reviewers, editors, and editorial boards better understand the intersection of biology and systemic/structural determinants of health that are necessary to address the mistrust in communities that have been historically marginalized and underserved.…”

Publishing Visualization Studies as Registered Reports: Expected Benefits and Researchers’ Attitudes

“…These iterations all take place before any data collection begins and thus before any scientific resource is used, be it participants that are enrolled, money spent, or devices/doses used. For this reason, Registered Reports have been said to help reduce waste of scientific resources [5,7,8]. In addition, they could help reduce the norm of submitting already completed but potentially flawed studies to many different journals until they get accepted [14,22].…”