An introduction to Open Science: doing transparent, credible and efficient research

Felix Schönbrodt

LMU München, Fakultät für Psychologie und Pädagogik

The reproducibility and replicability of research findings is a core criterion of science. However, in recent years, large replication projects in psychology, medicine, economics, and other disciplines, have revealed that only 20-40% of all findings can be replicated. This is not surprising when one considers that the current incentive structure favors long publication lists that contain new and surprising findings which, however, often are not robust (e.g., because results are based on very small samples or are statistically “just significant.”). This spurred the replication crisis and gave rise to the question: “Which results can we trust at all?” In response, many stakeholders have decisively moved towards “Open Science”, with the goal to make research more transparent, more reproducible, and more trustworthy. For example, research funders and scientific organizations, such as the DFG and the EU Research Council, push into this direction. In my talk, I will give a quick overview about the current state of the replication/credibility crisis and show why open science must be one answer to this crisis. This has implications for research practices, teaching, hiring decisions, and journal guidelines.