Open practices and methodologies in research design to support reproducibility

Date and time: Tuesday 21st April 13.00-14.00 

Format: Microsoft Teams (Online)

Presenters: Dr Nick Beazley-Long (University of Bristol); Prof. Christopher Chambers (Cardiff University)

Description: This session will consist of two talks from GW4 partners looking at open practices in research design that support reproducibility:

• Reproducibility by Design Dr Nick Beazley-Long (University of Bristol): Reproducibility shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be seen as a design principle. But how do we build reproducibility into our research? At the University of Bristol, the Data Integrity and Quality Assurance team supports and educates researchers in developing methods and workflows, and with managing data effectively to protect data integrity and enhance research data quality. These often overlooked fundamentals of high quality research form the bedrock of rigorous and reproducible research. We are willing to help support researchers across GW4 institutions and this talk will introduce some of the work, tools and resources we've put together to help researchers perform reproducible research by design.  
• Registered Reports 2.0 Prof. Christopher Chambers (Cardiff University): Registered Reports are a form of empirical publication, offered by over 350 journals, in which study proposals are peer reviewed and pre-accepted before research is undertaken. By deciding which articles are published based on the question, theory, and methods, Registered Reports offer a remedy for a range of reporting and publication biases. In this talk, I will briefly discuss early impacts and characteristics of the Registered Reports initiative before focusing on a platform we established in 2021 called the Peer Community in Registered Reports (PCI RR). PCI RR is a non-profit, non-commercial platform that, like the many other PCIs, coordinates the peer-review of preprints (https://rr.peercommunityin.org/about/about) but in this case specifically for RRs. PCI RR is also joined by a growing fleet of “PCI RR-friendly” journals that agree to endorse the recommendations of PCI RR without further review (https://rr.peercommunityin.org/about/pci_rr_friendly_journals), giving the authors the power to choose which journal, if any, will publish their manuscript. By reclaiming control of the peer review process from academic publishers, PCI RR offers a route for ensuring that Registered Reports are made as open, accessible, and rigorous as possible, while also moving toward a future in which journals themselves become obsolete. 

Registration: Open to all - please register via Microsoft Teams.

Organisers: This event has been organised by Kellie Snow, Cardiff University and Richard Westaway, University of Bristol.