Increasing transparency through open science badges

The Center for Open Science has introduced “badges” as a way to recognize authors who engage in transparent practices (for further information, see https://cos.io/our‐services/open‐science‐badges/). The badges are a step toward a wider cultural change in research publishing in which transparency, openness, and preregistration are rewarded. In particular, it is hoped that awarding badges for open science practices, such as data and material sharing and preregistration, will improve replicability, reduce the prevalence of questionable research practices, and reduce the waste of research outputs and resources.

By offering badges, Conservation Biology is encouraging authors to share data and materials and to preregister studies. Through this incentive, Conservation Biology is taking an additional step toward transparency in the research it publishes and toward the ultimate goals of producing reliable scientific findings, improving the credibility of science, and accelerating scientific discoveries and knowledge creation in our discipline.