Open methods, open data, open access

"APA is now accepting manuscripts for the Archives of Scientific Psychology, a new journal with open-methods, open-data, and open-access policies that could change the face of psychological publishing, says co-editor Harris Cooper, PhD, chair of Duke University's psychology and neuroscience department. 'Anyone in any country anywhere in the world who has access to the Internet can look for research in this new journal and find the full report, free of charge,' he says. While Archives isn't psychology's first open-access journal, it is the first to require authors to contribute their full data set to a central, restricted-access data repository, says co-editor Gary VandenBos, PhD, executive director of APA's Office of Publications and Databases. This data-sharing setup will allow other researchers to re-analyze study results, conduct more thorough meta-analyses and even conduct new data analyses, says Cooper. 'The data repository will make data more useful and it can also...make it more difficult for people to fabricate data or to misreport what procedures were followed in the data collection and analysis,' he says. Researchers will also be required to explain their data collection and analysis in a template format, making it easier for reviewers to catch potential problems and helping meta-analysts put together data from different studies, VandenBos adds.'It all comes back to increasing the transparency and comprehensiveness of science reporting,' he says. The journal, now accepting new manuscripts, is expected to publish its first articles next year..."