We are in the 10th year of a system-wide effort to proactively reform the norms and reward system in science and elevate rigor, transparency, sharing, and reproducibility. Change is hard, particularly in a decentralized system like science. And, scaling sustainable change is even harder, especially with the persistence of dysfunctional incentives that reward exciting over accurate, novel over rigorous, and tidy over transparent.

But the reform movement has made remarkable progress, primarily because of grassroots actors changing norms despite the dysfunctional reward systems, and because of actions by progressive leaders at journals, funders, societies, and institutions that are changing incentives and policies directly.

One of the most important components of the open science reform movement is the simultaneous emergence of metascience as a domain of scholarly inquiry. Reforms are only useful if they fix the problems that they are intended to solve, and do not create unintended consequences that make things worse overall. Metascience keeps the reform movement focused on making science better. Are the reforms working? Are they fit for purpose across scholarly domains? Are they ready and able to scale? What else should we try? Active experimentation and evaluation are critical elements for catalyzing system change that actually works.

The Center for Open Science (COS) is fortunate to have so many partners in advancing reform toward open science and in evaluating the impact of those reforms. COS’s unique role is contributing a systems-level strategy and services that enable communities to enact that strategy and scale adoption. But, COS’s systems-level approach would be impotent without the active collaboration with partners who act as champions, norm setters, and change agents within their disciplinary or stakeholder communities. This year’s Impact Report highlights how these partnerships are more than the sum of their parts, and are the basis for the accelerating rate of change toward greater openness, integrity, and reproducibility in research.

Entering COS’s 10th year, the tailwind for change is even stronger. In the United States, following the leadership of the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, all major U.S. federal agencies are participants in declaring 2023 the “Federal Year of Open Science.” And, globally, the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science provided the first international, standard-setting instrument on open science.

So, take a moment to review this Impact Report to reflect on the progress we have made together, and then let’s get back to work.

Thank you for your ongoing support of the mission to improve and accelerate science.

Brian Nosek
Executive Director
Center for Open Science

Alison Mudditt
Board Chair
Center for Open Science