Open Research Support by Practice

Who is this relevant to?

Pre-registration is most relevant to hypothesis-testing research.  However, it is potentially helpful for any research that involves researcher degrees of freedom. 

What is it all about, and why should you do it?

Pre-registration is the act of recording your protocols and hypotheses prior to conducting your research. In doing so, the researcher protects themselves against unintentional HARKing, P-Hacking and confirmation bias.  

How do I do it? (How-to guides)

• The OSF provides a variety of pre-registration templates for different types of research. 
• Min 12-28 of this video are a walkthrough of how to pre-register a study on OSF.
• This 9 minute video walks the viewer through the AsPredicted pre-registration template.

What support does Reading offer?

We can offer tailored training for groups of researchers. Contact Reading’s open research co-ordinator (E.gowie@reading.ac.uk) to arrange training for your group.

Want more in-depth information?

This paper is a good, in depth introduction to the goals of and common obstacles to pre-registration.

Who is this relevant to?

In theory, everyone who does hypothesis testing research – but it depends on whether your target journal offers the format. You can check in this list of 300+ participating journals. 

What is it all about, and why should I do it?

A registered report is a publishing format that builds on the principle of pre-registration (see above). In this model, an author submits their protocol to a journal prior to data collection. The protocol is peer-reviewed, and if judged high-quality, given an in-principal acceptance. This means that the journal commits to publishing the final article regardless of results; provided the author follows the approved protocol. 

How do I do this? (How-to guides)

This guidance covers what to cover in stages 1 and 2 of a registered report, and provides a cover letter template.

What support does Reading offer?

We can offer tailored training for groups of researchers. Contact Reading’s open research co-ordinator (E.gowie@reading.ac.uk) to arrange training for your group.

Want more in-depth information?

• The Centre for Open Science provides extensive, in-depth guidance. 
• This webinar answers FAQs about registered reports. It is divided into chapters so that you can choose the interesting questions to listen to. 
• The UKRN has produced a four-page intro to pre-registration and registered reports. 
• This paper summarises 10 questions to answer to write a Stage one Reg report, and 10 tips to avoid desk rejection.

Who is this relevant to?

Anyone using statistical analysis. 

What is it all about, and why should I do it?

For conclusions to be verifiable, analysis must be transparent enough to be reproduced. Unlike point-and-click statistical programmes like SPSS, statistical coding leaves a clear line of the decisions made at every point of the process. Additionally, coding a statistical analysis yourself ensures that you fully understand exactly what is happening to the data, and therefore what your results actually mean. 

What support does Reading offer?

• The Research Software Engineering team provides and directs to training and resources. Have a look at their offerings here, or watch this short webinar on how they can help.
• PCLS coding club seeks to help Psychology and related students and academics learn techniques in Python and R with an emphasis on statistical modelling and data processing. PCLS COP hold regular weekly webinar events throughout Autumn and Spring Terms. Join the MS Teams group for updates. 

Want more in-depth information?

• CodeRefinery is an online community which provides free ‘bring your own code’ workshops among other online events. 
• If you identify as LGBTQ+, RainbowR is a community of LGBTQ+ R users. It is a little bit more social focused, but it offers a buddy system for 1-to-1 R based conversations. 

Who is this relevant to?

Everyone! We use the term ‘data’ in a very broad way – it could be that you use the term ‘materials’ or something similar. Basically, we mean whatever you are looking at that informs your conclusion.

What is it all about, and why should you do it?

In order for research to be accessible and (in the case of sciences) self-correcting, data must be available for scrutiny. In addition, data sharing in support of published research findings (including PhD theses) is an expectation of the University’s Research Data Management Policy. 

Data should therefore be made openly available wherever possible, but where not suitable for open sharing, they can be held in a controlled-access repository, which will provide access under managed conditions to authenticated researchers. 

How do I do it? (How-to guides)

Reading’s Research Data Management Libguide includes a section on preparing your data for sharing.

What support does Reading offer?

The Research Data Service offers a huge amount of support and resources, from tailored trainings for groups to bookable on-to-one appointments.

To see everything they provide, visit their website.

Want more in-depth information?

• The Research data handbook provides an introduction to research data management concepts and practices, with sections on data management planning, managing your data, and preserving and sharing data. It includes guidance on handling intellectual property rights in data, and managing participant data in compliance with legal and ethical obligations.  
• The FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable) are a good framework for ensuring your data is open in a useful way.
• Watch this webinar with Robert Darby, Reading’s Research Data Manager, talking about the Whys and Hows of Open Data.

Who is this relevant to?

Anyone who writes code for their research.  

What is it all about, and why should I do it?

Sharing code is important to verify and reproduce results. It also reduces duplication of effort in the long run, and sometimes people suggest improvements that will help you out. In this video, researchers discuss their experience of open code, and why it helps them (8 mins). 

How do I do it? (How-to guides)

• This paper offers a step-by-step guide to creating open, reproducible code in R.
• The Research Data Service provides an in depth guide to publishing your research software, including a practical checklist. 
• A three-page intro to open code and software, with a comparison of common publication platforms.
• This paper provides guidance on how to cite code in your manuscript. 
• Creative Commons licences are recommended to ensure that other people can use and adapt your code, but that you still get credit when they do.  

What support does Reading offer?

The Research Data Service can answer any questions. Email them on researchdata@reading.ac.uk, or book an appointment here. 

Want more in-depth information?

• The Software Sustainability Institute provides community, consultancy, policy and training services to researchers who build and use software. 
• Watch this webinar from Rob Thompson, a Reading Meteorologist talking about why he shared his code.

Who is this relevant to?

Everyone!  

What is it all about, and why should I do it?

Pre-prints are suitable for all disciplines and methodologies. They are a great way to get credit for your work early on, including citing in grant applications and preventing scooping. They also increase the attention and citations your work gets overall.  

How do I do this? (How-to guides)

• This is a thorough, written guide on the pre-print process, start to finish.  
• It’s also OK to cite pre-prints. This article outlines what to do if you’re asked to remove a citation to a pre-print. 

 What support does Reading offer?

Karen Rowlett, Research Publications Advisor can help you with any queries. Contact her on: k.a.rowlett@reading.ac.uk.

Want more in-depth information?

• The UKRN produced a three-page, introductory overview of pre-prints, including a list of pre-print servers by discipline. 
• Reading has a libguide on preprints, including a 40 min intro video. 
• This one hour 15 minute podcast outlines the pros and cons of preprints, who they are suitable for and a brief history. 

Who is this relevant to?

Everyone. As soon as accepted for publication, staff and students are required to deposit the author-final version of all journal articles and conference proceedings in CentAUR as a minimum. Books and other monographs can also be made open access. 

What is it all about, and why should you do it?

By making their publications Open Access, researchers increase the visibility of their research to readers worldwide and ensure that it is discoverable and accessible free of charge to anyone via the internet. 

How do I do this? (How-to guides)

• The Open Research Team provides a 6 minute video on how to deposit in CentAUR.
• Use the Directory for Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to find reputable open access journals, and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) to find reputable open access publishers and to see who is publishing open access in your field. 
• ‘Think. Check. Submit.’ is a well-regarded checklist that helps researchers identify trusted journals and publishers. There is a version for journal articles, and a version for books. 

What support does Reading offer?

• The Open Research team can answer any queries on oarequests@reading.ac.uk, or book an appointment.

Want more in-depth information?

The Open Research team have put together two Open Access Libguides, one for journal articles, and one for books. 

Who is this relevant to?

Anyone applying to or assessing candidates for a job or a grant that requests a narrative CV, or narrative elements to the application.

What is it all about, and why should you do it?

Traditional academic CVs can fall into the trap of rewarding high publication rates and high impact factor journals, rather than robust, impact focused work. Narrative CVs try to move past this by asking applicants to explain why their work is important, and exactly what they contributed to each output. It gives you a chance to highlight everything you do, rather than just the published papers.

To note, ‘narrative CV’ is a catch all term to describe a range of formats. You may have heard of the common Resume for Researchers (R4RI) – the information here will be relevant to this format.

How do I do this? (How-to guides)

• This free 25 minute course covers how to write narrative CVs, and provides examples from ECRs.
• This short course explains how to assess narrative CVs.
• A checklist of things to consider to demonstrate each aspect of a narrative CV (e.g. individual development, contribution to new ideas etc).

What support does Reading offer?

• UoR Learn features a 30 minute recorded short introduction to the background to R4RI, and will provide you with hints and tips for writing both your own R4RI and one for a team. Search on UoR Learn: “Short Introduction to Resume for Research & Innovation (R4RI) Narrative CVs”.
• Longer workshops hosted by the Open Research team are also available on a regular basis. Search ‘Narrative’ on UoR Learn to see if any are upcoming.
• Tristan Glenn, Research Development Manager can answer questions on narrative CVs. Contact him on: t.glenn@reading.ac.uk.

Want more in-depth information?

• This 20 min podcast explains why assessors are increasingly are switching to narrative CVs. It also covers tips on how to write them including: Keep a journal where you note down weekly what you have done helps when writing, and write them with a friend or colleague who can ask questions to make your contributions clearer.
• The Research and Innovation hub has prepared in-depth guidance on producing a R4RI (a common narrative CV format).