Strengthening the Scientific Ecosystem

Research is conducted within a broader ecosystem in which funding, collaboration, communication, and career incentives play important roles. BITSS supports universities, research and policy organizations, academic journals, and associations to recognize and reward best practices for research transparency and reproducibility through formal rules and procedures. Our programs in this domain include:

Institutional Scale-Up

BITSS supports universities, research and policy analysis organizations through training on best practices and development and technical review of internal protocols for transparent and reproducible research. We do this by considering each organization’s research goals and practices and identifying mechanisms for integrating tools and best practices for improved transparency and reproducibility.

Scholarly Communication

Scholarly communication systems provide vital infrastructure for sharing scientific knowledge. However, incentives in publishing are not always aligned with the scientific values of openness, integrity, and reproducibility. BITSS works with journals and other stakeholders to align incentives that reward scientific rigor, transparency, and reproducibility.

Open Policy Analysis

BITSS supports Open Policy Analysis (OPA), an approach to policy analysis wherein data, code, materials, and clear accounts of methodological decisions are made freely available to facilitate collaboration, discussion, and reuse. OPA adapts and applies cutting-edge tools, methods, and practices commonly used for transparency and reproducibility in scientific research.

Leamer-Rosenthal Prizes for Open Social Science

These prizes recognized 28 outstanding faculty who have incorporated research transparency methods and subject matter into their course curricula, and early-career researchers whose work demonstrates or advances transparent and reproducible practices. Meet the recipients here.