Open Methods Badge

About Open Methods

Methods written in traditional research articles provide an overview of the experimental procedures, but are often not detailed enough to allow for full reproducibility. Moreover, publishing analysis methods and hypotheses only at the final publication stage, that is, after results are known, can lead to biases in analytical choices and other suboptimal research practices, contributing to the reproducibility crisis.

Open research methods are crucial for transparency, reproducibility, collaboration and accessibility. Open Methods encompass a series of practices that aim to make research protocols more easily shareable, reusable and reproducible.

Requirements

To earn the Open Methods badge, participants must fulfill requirements for at least one of the following options:

Option 1: Publish Reproducible Methods

  1. Publish an open access protocol: Publish a complete and reproducible protocol describing your methods in an open access repository or platform (e.g., protocols.io, openlabnotebooks.org, Zenodo, PLOS Lab Protocols).

Option 2: Support and Training for Research Methods

  1. Produce and share tutorials openly: Create and share video, written/text-based, or other kinds of tutorials (e.g., Neuro-Eddu Portal) for a method/protocol/technique, OR
  2. Train others: Lead or participate in organizing a workshop or course to train others on how to use a method/protocol you developed or participated in developing.

Note: The material produced should be as inclusive and accessible as possible. For instance tutorials should be made available in multiple languages, videos should have subtitles in English and/or French, etc.

Option 3: Pre-registration

  1. Pre-register an experiment: Pre-register a study prospectively (prior to data collection or analysis) on an appropriate platform (e.g., OSF.io), and cite/refer to the pre-registration in a published article or preprint reporting the results of that experiment, OR
  2. Registered Report: Publish a Registered Report type of article.

Submission Checklist

All submissions go through the Open Science Bagdges Submission Form. Here is what to include in your applicaiton file depending on which Option described above you are following:

For Publishing Reproducible Methods (Option 1):

  • Provide a link and persistent identifier to the published protocol.
  • Include a brief description (max. 250 words) of the protocol/method and its relevance.

For Support and Training for Research Methods (Option 2):

  • Provide links to the tutorial (video, text-based or other), or live presentation at a workshop/course. If the event was not recorded, please provide alternative evidence that the event took place and of your involvement in the organization.
  • Include a brief description (max. 250 words) of the material produced, or of the event, as well as the goals and potential impact.

For Pre-registration (Option 3):

  • Provide a link and persistent identifier to the pre-registration, and to the published article or preprint referencing the pre-registration.
  • In the case of a Registered Report, provide the link and persistent identifier to the published or preprinted registered report.
  • Include a brief description (max. 250 words) of the project and pre-registration process.

Application

Apply now using this application form to earn your first Open Science badge!