Rigor and Transparency Initiatives

Began in 2019, “Opening Influenza Research” has accepted 7 studies so far. The studies include small awards of $5,000 for publishing the results of already completed replication studies or existing datasets, and larger awards of up to $25,000 for studies that propose conducting additional direct replications. These studies cover all aspects of influenza research, including immunology, genetics, analysis of existing datasets, and factors that affect vaccination rates.

For a special issue titled “Replications of Important Results in Social Psychology,” authors submitted proposals to the journal that included (1) an introduction justifying the importance of the original study and a replication, (2) a proposed methodology and analysis plan, and (3) a budget for conducting the research.  Successful proposals were granted in-principle acceptance at the journal and received small awards (~$2K each) from COS through a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Ultimately, 15 Registered Report articles were published. And, all articles met the requirements for the special issue to share data, materials, and code.

With support from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, and in collaboration with the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, COS is administering an initiative to promote the use of Registered Reports in consciousness research by funding $1.125 million for researchers who use the Registered Reports model at participating journals. 

Create a program designed to:

• Incentivize rigor and transparency
• Demonstrate best practices
• Maximize community engagement or impact
• Promote behavior and culture change

• Facilitate relationships with partner journals
• Manage researcher inquiries and provide support for developing proposals
• Assess pre-proposals for meeting qualification criteria for the program
• Advise or train participating researchers on best practices and meeting program objectives
• Administer grant awards to qualifying researchers
• Manage reporting requirements for awards

• Provide regular reports on program administration, outreach effectiveness, and program outcomes
• Conduct evaluation of the program with participating researchers and other stakeholders
• Assess impact in the research community