Open science badges are an incentive developed by the Center for Open Scienceopens in new window for authors who share data or materials and who preregister studies and/or analysis plans.
The three badge categories
- Open Data
Including the Open Data (Protected Access) badge, useful in acknowledging that many data sets and materials cannot be shared because of consent or safety issues. - Open Materials
- Preregistered
Including the Preregistered+Analysis Plan badge.
Interested authors apply for badges on a self-disclosure basis. We ask authors to verify that criteria have been fulfilled in a signed badge disclosure form (PDF, 33KB)opens in new window, submitted as supplemental material at submission. Once an article is accepted, the editor checks the form to confirm that criteria are met, and the form is published with the article as supplemental material.
For all badges, items must be made available on an open-access repository with a persistent identifier in a format that is time-stamped, immutable, and permanent. Data and materials must be made available under an open license allowing others to copy, share, and use the data, with attribution and copyright as applicable.
Badges currently available
Open Data:
All data necessary to reproduce the reported results that are digitally shareable are made publicly available. Information necessary for replication (e.g., codebooks or metadata) must be included.
Open Data: Protected Access:
A “PA” (Protected Access) notation may be added to open data badges if sensitive, personal data are available only from an approved third-party repository that manages access to data to qualified researchers through a documented process. To be eligible for an open data badge with such a notation, the repository must publicly describe the steps necessary to obtain the data and detailed data documentation (e.g. variable names and allowed values) must be made available publicly. A list of approved repositories is available onlineopens in new window.
Open Materials:
All materials necessary to reproduce the reported results that are digitally shareable, along with descriptions of non-digital materials necessary for replication, are made publicly available.
Preregistered:
At least one study’s design has been preregistered with descriptions of (a) the research design and study materials, including the planned sample size; (b) the motivating research question or hypothesis; (c) the outcome variable(s); and (d) the predictor variables, including controls, covariates, and independent variables. Results must be fully disclosed. As long as they are distinguished from other results in the article, results from analyses that were not preregistered may be reported in the article.
Preregistered+Analysis Plan:
At least one study’s design has been preregistered along with an analysis plan for the research—and results are recorded according to that plan.
Note that it may not be possible to preregister a study or to share data and materials. Applying for open science badges is optional.