Academic research is moving towards a near future where “as open as possible” will be the common standard. Most notably, 2025 will be the year in which most research in the U.S. will include practices such as open access publishing and open data, as new standards from the federal government are implemented. During this year’s Open Access Week, it’s worth taking a moment to consider what steps are worth preparing for now.
The first is of course open access publishing. There are many paths to consider here, such as paying fees if there are funds available in research budgets to enable it. Another option is to use government infrastructure for this purpose. Another great path to add is using the many preprint servers such as arXiv, PsyArXiv, or bioRxiv. There are a few benefits to using these servers to post papers: items can be cited sooner, feedback can be gathered prior to submission for publication, and it can be especially useful for early career researchers to quickly show off their research.
The other is open data. Crafting a good data management plan is the first step toward reaching this goal. One aspect that will be important to consider when crafting this plan is what funders mean when they say “open data.” According to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, open data is the “recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings” (emphasis added).
But what does that mean? It goes on to clarify that data does not include “laboratory notebooks, preliminary analyses, case report forms, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer-reviews, communications with colleagues, or physical objects and materials, such as laboratory specimens, artifacts, or field notes,” but what does it include? Items that aren’t excluded but that are necessary to validate and replicate were considered when updating the TOP Guidelines for 2025. TOP 2025 specifically adds protocols as a research output that should be included in order to help others validate or replicate research findings. The complete list of outputs includes:
These research practices help to guide readers through the complete research lifecycle and can connect every part of a reproducible research project.
Getting used to these norms may take time, and it may be daunting to consider all of them at once. So start with one of the above in your next project. By the time new standards are implemented, you’ll be well prepared to take them on.