Transparent and open science practices are increasingly valued by research funders, academic journals, and the public. Increased research transparency has potential to increase research rigor, reproducibility, and access. This webinar will discuss three approaches to increase transparency in the research process: study pre-registration; open access data; and registered report publications. For each of these three topics, we will provide an overview of recommended practices; describe potential challenges to implementing these practices and possible ways to address these challenges; and provide resources for further learning. Study pre-registration is currently required for clinical trials supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by many journals, but pre-registration has value beyond clinical trials. We will discuss pre-registration of study design and analytic plan across a range of study types, as well as strategies to improve on clinical trial registration. A data sharing plan is currently required by NIH for certain grants and is requested by some journals. We will discuss the different approaches to sharing data, and discuss the benefits and challenges of making data and analytic code available for download in a public repository, as well as discuss challenges to open access data (e.g., sensitive data). Registered reports are a journal publication format where a research project is approved for publication prior to research data being obtained. We will discuss the benefits and challenges of publishing registered reports and present the status of behavioral medicine-relevant journals with regard to offering registered report format.
Date: October 10, 2019
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Presenters: Megan McVay, PhD; Laura Scherer; and Ian Sullivan
Cost: Registration is free for SBM members and $15 for non-members.
Megan McVay is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in the Department of Health Education and Behavior. She conducts research on behavioral aspects of weight management, with a focus on initiation and sustained engagement in evidence-based approaches to weight management among adults with obesity. She is currently chair of the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Publication & Communication Council.
Twitter handle: @MeganMcVay1
Laura Scherer is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver School of Medicine. Her research seeks to understand how people form medical preferences, decide to seek healthcare or not, and engage in shared decision making. This research addresses broader issues related to psychological factors that drive healthcare utilization and receipt of high versus low-benefit care.
Twitter handle: @ldscherer
Ian Sullivan is the Transparency and Openness Training Coordinator at the Center for Open Science. He works to help raise awareness of issues leading to reproducibility challenges for research and of methodological and workflow approaches that researchers can implement to help address those issues. Ian has a deep interest in free software, free knowledge, and book digitization. He lives in Richmond, VA with his family.
Twitter handle: @ianatcos
