Research with Integrity – just how ‘open’ is open research?

As I delve deeper into good research practice and integrity, I can’t help but notice the stark contrast between my current role in research integrity and my days as a postdoc.

Time is a limited resource, and scientists rightly prioritise the day-to-day activities of their research. Consequently, it’s no surprise that valuable initiatives around good research can remain concealed from those who could truly benefit from them.

Despite being fortunate in attending more events in my research integrity role, I still felt I wasn’t getting my head around some of it. Open research is a prime example. I’ve learnt about initiatives like FAIR data, but had a nagging feeling that open research was more expansive than just data management and open access publishing.

Events, dear boy, events…

It wasn’t until I crossed paths with Lukas Hughes-Noehrer, the Open Research Lead at the University of Manchester’s School of Engineering, that I became aware of the existence of the Office for Open Research.

Lukas and I met through running ReproducibiliTea journal club events, hosting online discussions on good research practice, reproducibility, and open research. However, amidst the post-COVID research resurgence these failed to gain traction with the researchers we wanted to engage.

So, teaming up with the Office for Open Research, we concocted a plan to host a series of in-person events to bring together people – experts and those just looking in – to delve into various facets of open research. With the support of Noemie Aubert Bonn, a Research Associate specialising in open and reproducible research and research assessment, we launched the “Opening Up Research” series.

Noemie’s experience as an academic, and her knowledge of the open research world, greatly helped us shape the agenda for the series.

From dialogue comes learning

The events have certainly given me – and I hope our other attendees! – a wider view of the open research landscape.

And we have been lucky enough to have some fantastic speakers across our events.

Dr Ben Bleasdale of the Campaign for Science and Engineering provided valuable insights into the Wellcome Trust’s Reimagine Research Culture initiative. Community-building is clearly at the heart of this for Ben as we discussed how learnings from this exercise could be a model for change in other areas of research. Having coordinated a large consultation exercise involving over 4000 respondents, he shared with us the importance of open and honest communication to build the momentum and the buy-in to effect lasting change. Similarly, Professor Richard Taylor, BNFL Chair in Nuclear Energy Systems at The University of Manchester talked about the importance of community engagement, driven by social sciences research, in the nuclear energy sector, a great demonstration of the opportunities for interdisciplinary learning.

The events threw up some really interesting ideas around research culture, justice, sustainability, and equality – particularly in the area of scientific publishing, and how initiatives like Diamond Open Access could drive more equitable publishing and better investment of funds. I was particularly interested to hear that this model is common in Latin America, and that care must be taken to act equitably to avoid positive developments in the Global North negatively impacting existing good practices.

A common theme emerging across the events was data. If publishing is to be more open, then the data that goes with it should also be more open (very much in line with the CRUK data sharing plans). To do that well require support from different teams – librarians, publishers, editors, academics, data management professionals – and to bring these groups together requires coordination across disciplines.

Time and space
These events have certainly broadened my understanding of open research, which I hope I am bringing into my conversations with researchers.

But they’ve also shown me just how much it takes to keep on top of all the useful initiatives and practices around open research and integrity. And if that is tricky for me, it’s even more difficult for time-strapped researchers. While this is difficult to fix, I’m hoping my open science journey can help me direct people to the tools and learning opportunities that are most relevant for them (including those from the new UKRIO Open Research resources page).

And I can say this: through being part of a wider community of open research I am very encouraged by all the positive actions for change that are underway, and am looking forward to seeing the fruit of the interdisciplinary collaborations emerging from these events over the coming years.