Changes in the Research Process Must Come From the Scientific Community

In a recent article intended to be published in a major policy journal, Victoria Stodden urges the scientific community to take the lead in establishing a new framework for more transparent research practices. While recent policy changes by the US government regarding public access to data and publications from federally funded research can serve as a catalyst for higher transparency standards, researchers cannot expect policymakers to always act in the interest of scientific integrity, she says. Overemphasis on US competitiveness, lobbying forces, and imperfect understanding of how science is carried out and disseminated should make clear that authors and journals should further use and develop existing transparency tools rather than relying on what is happening on the Hill. Read the piece on Victoria Stodden’s blog.