Open Research

Open Research is an approach which aims to make both the research process and its outputs as openly accessible as possible. Practicing an open research philosophy means that all outputs from a project will be shared in an accessible way which will benefit those both within and outside academia. This includes sharing any supporting data or supplementary materials which accompany the research in addition to the final output(s), preferably using non-proprietary software. More than this, Open Research involves working in a transparent way and opening up the project to additional researchers and groups as appropriate to create the best research possible.  

One reason for this is something known as the 'reproducibility crisis'. Many researchers find themselves unable to replicate the results of work done by others (or in some cases their own work!). As part of the process of research integrity it is important that any results of formal, published, peer reviewed research can be verified. This helps to prevent fraud, both deliberate and accidental and ensure that research can be trusted. Worryingly, a recent enquiry into research integrity found that more than a quarter of researchers had felt tempted or pressured to compromise their standards during the research process. Opening up the research process to wider scrutiny can help to make sure that this is not the case for the majority of researchers and that the information being used to base important decisions on is accurate.

You can find out more about Open Research at Cambridge here.