Adoption of open research practices exceeding expectations

A new analysis of open research practices suggests that researchers are increasingly motivated to share their data by factors beyond policy mandates, such as enhanced visibility, impact, and collaboration. The investigation by Taylor & Francis and DataSeer found that more than half of authors included a Data Availability Statement (DAS) in their journal article, explaining whether and how readers can access data, and a third of researchers in some disciplines openly shared their data.

Open research (or “open science”) makes all the outputs of a research project available for others to read, reuse, and build upon. Sharing outputs such as data, code, and software supports the transparency, reproducibility, and replicability of results. This in turn encourages trust in research and allows for stronger, more rigorous academic debate.

To assess the extent to which researchers are adopting open research practices, Taylor & Francis and DataSeer created an AI-driven landscape analysis of open research indicators across a sample of more than 8,000 Taylor & Francis journal articles published in 2023.

The results published in a new report, “Moving the needle on open data,” reveal considerable variation of uptake by discipline and geography. The report also uncovers how many authors are openly sharing the code and software related to their research; the proportion that are depositing a preprint of their article; and the adoption of ORCID iDs.

A key finding is that researchers are going beyond the minimum open research requirements of the journal they publish in. Given that not all journals currently mandate the inclusion of a DAS, the team expected about one-third of articles would include one. In fact, they found that just over half of researchers (52%) had done so. Similarly, a third of researchers in some disciplines chose to openly share their research data regardless of the journal’s policy.

“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,” commented Rebecca Taylor-Grant, Director of Open Science Strategy & Innovation at Taylor & Francis. “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, said, “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.”

Taylor & Francis is committed to working collaboratively with the academic community to drive a sustainable shift toward open research. The publisher will use these insights to develop discipline-specific support for authors across its journal portfolio of more than 2,700 titles.

Data from the landscape analysis can be found on Figshare.