Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) Rigor and Transparency Initiatives (RTI)

Center For Open Science, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

This project examines the efficacy of “Rigor and Transparency Initiatives” in science to shift attitudes, norms, and behaviors in research communities and promote more ethical and open science. Rigor and Transparency Initiatives involve a funding call for a special section or issue of journals to promote new behaviors that are valued but not yet incentivized or normative, such as replication studies or using Registered Reports to increase rigor and eliminate publication bias against negative findings. Rigor and Transparency Initiatives raise awareness about the value of these behaviors, demonstrate support for the behaviors from credible stakeholders (e.g., funders, journals), incentivize researchers to try the behaviors, and provide proof-of-concept of the feasibility, value, and impact of the behaviors. The principal investigators collaborate with funding partners to implement RTI interventions promoting rigor and transparency in different research communities. Surveys are distributed each year to members of each research community to assess changes in the attitudes, norms, and reported behaviors incentivized by the Rigor and Transparency Initiatives. The project will produce new methods for testing the efficacy of Rigor and Transparency Initiatives and create new open datasets, computational code, and analytic workflows to enable outside assessments of the project and promote new research on these topics. Fostering research ethics, rigor, and transparency is achieved through training, policies, incentives, and developing new community norms within research disciplines and institutions. “Rigor and Transparency Initiatives” are organized attempts to shift such attitudes, norms, and behaviors in research communities based on collaborations between journals and funders. Despite increased calls for such initiatives, evidence regarding their effectiveness is sparse. This project is a naturalistic, longitudinal investigation of the effectiveness of Rigor and Transparency Initiatives as a mechanism for culture change toward rigor and transparency to enhance ethical and responsible conduct of research. Rigor and Transparency Initiatives will be implemented in different research communities with customized features to maximize fit for each community. Community members will be surveyed each year to test for changes in attitudes, norms, and reported behavior related to each Rigor and Transparency Initiative. Overall, the project produces new insights about mechanisms of cultural change in science and new methods of purposely fostering more open and ethical research. This project was funded by the SBE and CISE directorates. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.