The Rise of Open Research Practices
A recent analysis of open research practices highlights a growing trend among researchers to share their data and findings beyond what is required by policy. This shift is driven by factors such as increased visibility, impact, and opportunities for collaboration. According to a study conducted by Taylor & Francis and DataSeer, more than half of authors included a Data Availability Statement (DAS) in their journal articles, explaining how readers can access the data. Additionally, a third of researchers in certain disciplines openly shared their data, regardless of their journal's policies.
Open research, also known as "open science," involves making all outputs of a research project available for others to read, reuse, and build upon. This includes sharing data, code, and software, which supports the transparency, reproducibility, and replicability of results. These practices encourage trust in research and foster stronger, more rigorous academic debates.
To evaluate the extent of open research adoption, Taylor & Francis and DataSeer conducted an AI-driven landscape analysis of open research indicators across a sample of over 8,000 Taylor & Francis journal articles published in 2023.
The findings, published in a new report titled "Moving the needle on open data," reveal significant variations in the adoption of open research practices across different disciplines and regions. The report also explores how many authors are openly sharing the code and software related to their research, the proportion that are depositing preprints of their articles, and the use of ORCID iDs.
Key Findings from the Study
One of the most notable findings is that researchers are going beyond the minimum open research requirements set by the journals they publish in. While not all journals currently mandate the inclusion of a DAS, the team initially expected about one-third of articles to include one. Instead, they found that just over half of the researchers (52%) had done so. Similarly, a third of researchers in some disciplines chose to openly share their research data, even when it was not required by their journal’s policy.
Rebecca Taylor-Grant, Director of Open Science Strategy & Innovation at Taylor & Francis, expressed her enthusiasm for the results. "We were very encouraged by the results of this analysis, and the current uptake of open research practices has exceeded our expectations in every area," she said. "This work with DataSeer will now help us to better support our authors in taking this good practice even further."
Tim Vines, founder and CEO of DataSeer, added, "Our Open Science Metrics provide unique business intelligence that reveal behavioral patterns, opportunities, and, as in this case, progress toward more open, rapid, and reproducible research. Regular tracking of these data points empowers publishers to adjust their policies in step with research culture and continue to improve."
Commitment to Open Research
Taylor & Francis is dedicated to working collaboratively with the academic community to drive a sustainable shift toward open research. The publisher plans to use the insights gained from this study to develop discipline-specific support for authors across its portfolio of over 2,700 titles.
The data from the landscape analysis is available on Figshare. For more information, readers can refer to the full report titled "Moving the needle on open data" at insights.taylorandfrancis.com/…/open-data-new-study/.
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