---
title: "Research transparency"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_transparency"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:50:11.648451+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Sharing of research outputs ===
Data sharing has been early on identified as major potential solution to the reproducibility crisis and the lack of solid guidelines for statistical indicators. In 2005, John Ioannidis hypothesized that "some kind of registration or networking of data collections or investigators within fields may be more feasible than registration of each and every hypothesis-generating experiment."
The sharing of research outputs is covered by three standards of the TOPs guidelines: on Data transparency (2), Analytic/code methods transparency (3) and Research materials transparency (4). All the relevant data, code and research materials are to be stored on a "trusted repository" and all analysis being already reproduced independently prior to publication.

=== Extended citation standards ===
While citation standards are commonly applied to academic reference, there is much less formalization for all the other research output, such as data, code, primary sources or qualitative assessments.
In 2012, the American Political Science Association adopted new policies for open qualitative research. They covered three dimensions of transparency: data transparency (in the sense of precise bibliographic data to the original sources), analytic transparency (in regards to claims extrapolated from the cited sources) and production transparency (in reference to the editorial choices made in the selection of the sources). In 2014, Andrew Moravcsik advocated the implementation of transparency appendix, containing detailed quotes of original sources as well as annotations "explaining how the source supports the claim being made".
According to the TOP Guidelines, "appropriate citation for data and materials" should be provided each publication. Consequently, scientific outputs like code or dataset are fully acknowledged as citable contributions: "Regular and rigorous citation of these materials credit them as original intellectual contributions."

=== Pre-registrations ===
Pre-registrations are covered by two TOP guidelines: Preregistration of studies (6) and Preregistration of analysis plans (7). In both cases, for the highest level of compliance journal should provide "link and badge in article to meeting requirements".
Pre-registrations aims to preventively address a variety of questionable research practices. It takes usually the form of "a timestamped uneditable research plan to a public archive [that] states the hypotheses to be tested, target sample sizes". Preregistration acts as an ethical contract as it theoretically constrains "the researcher degrees of freedom that make QRPs and p-hacking work".
Preregistration do not solve all the range of questionable research practices. Selective reporting of the results would especially still be compatible with a predefined research plan: "preregistration does not fully counter publication bias as it does not guarantee that findings will be reported." It has been argued that preregistration may also in some cases harm the quality of the research output by creating artificial constraints that do not fit with the reality of the research field: "Preregistration may interfere with valid inference because nothing prevents a researcher from preregistering a poor analytical plan."
While advocated as a relatively cost-free solution, preregistration may be in reality harder to implement as it relies on a significant commitment on the part of the researchers. An empiric study of the adoption of open science experiments in a psychology journals has shown that "Adoption of pre-registration lags relative to other open science practices (…) from 2015 to 2020". Consequently "even within researchers who see field-wide benefits of pre-registration, there is uncertainty surrounding the costs and benefits to individuals."

=== Replication studies ===
Replication studies or assessments of replicability aims to re-do one or several original studies. Although the concept has only appeared in the 2010s, replication studies have been existing for decades but were not acknowledged as such. The 2019 report of the National academies include a meta-analysis of 25 replications published between 1986 and 2019. It finds that the majority of the replication concern the medical and social sciences (especially, psychology and behavioral economics) and that there is for now no standardized evaluation criteria: "methods of assessing replicability are inconsistent and the replicability percentages depend strongly on the methods used." Consequently, at least as for 2019, replication studies cannot be aggregated to extrapolate a replicability rate: they "are not necessarily indicative of the actual rate of non-replicability across science for a number"
The TOPs guidelines have called for an enhanced recognition and valorization of replication studies. The eighth standards state that compliant journals should use "registered Reports as a submission option for replication studies with peer review".

=== Open editorial policies ===
In July 2018, several publishers, librarians, journal editors and researchers drafted a Leiden Declaration for Transparent Editorial Policies. The declaration underlined that journals "often do not contain information about reviewer selection, review criteria, blinding, the use of digital tools such as text similarity scanners, as well as policies on corrections and retractions" and this lack of transparency. The declaration identifies four main publication and peer review phases that should be better documented:

At submission: details on the governance of the journal, its scope, the editorial board or the rejection rates.
During review: criteria for selection, timing of the review and model of peer review (double bind, single bind, open).
Publication: disclosure of the "roles in the review process".
Post-publication: "criteria and procedures for corrections, expressions of concern, retraction" and other changes.
In 2020, the Leiden Declaration has been expanded and supplemented by a Platform for Responsible Editorial Policies (PREP). This initiative also aims to solve the structural scarcity of data and empirical information on editorial policies and peer review practices. As of 2022, this database contains partially crowdsourced information on the editorial procedures of 490 journals, from an initial base of 353 journals. The procedures evaluated include especially "the level of anonymity afforded to authors and reviewers; the use of digital tools such as plagiarism scanners; and the timing of peer review in the research and publication process". Despite this developments, research on editorial research still highlight the need for the "a comprehensive database that would allow authors or other stakeholders to compare journals based on their (…) requirements or recommendations"

== See also ==
Fabrication (science)
Post-publication peer review
Scientific misconduct
Research Integrity Risk Index

== References ==

== Bibliography ==