Reviewers and open science: why PRO? | StatsBlogs.com | All About Statistics

"As of yesterday, our paper outlining the PRO Initiative for open science was accepted for publication in the journal Royal Society Open Science. It marks the end of many tweaks to the basic idea, and hopefully the beginning of a new era in peer reviewing: the empowered peer reviewer. The basic idea behind the PRO Initiative is that the peer relationship is fundamental in science, and it is this relationship that should drive cultural change. Open science is necessary, possible, and overdue. As reviewers, we can make it happen ... What is the PRO Initiative? Signatories on the Initiative agree that after 1 January, 2017, they will not offer comprehensive review for any manuscript that does not have open data and open materials (ie, they are placed for all to access on a reliable host, such as those listed here) or at least justifies the lack of openness with the manuscript itself. If a reviewer receives such a manuscript to review, they can contact the editor to ask the authors to fix the problem so that the review process can continue; if the authors refuse, then the reviewer should offer a simple review that focuses only on the lack of data, and does not recommend acceptance. The manuscript was incomplete, after all; it should not become part of the scientific record in that form ..."