ORFG Members Join White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to Align Research Incentives
On February 28, 2020, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Science and Technology Council Rigor and Integrity in Research Subcommittee, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Roundtable on Aligning Incentives for Open Science held a joint meeting on aligning incentives in support of research integrity, reproducibility, and openness. The meeting including perspectives from a number of Open Research Funders Group members, including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Arnold Ventures, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Wellcome Trust.
Points of consensus from the meeting, as reported by OSTP, include the following:
- Research has its widest impact and is most trustworthy when its methodology and analysis are well-designed and the interpretation and reporting of results are clearly and transparently articulated.
- As stakeholders in the research endeavor, Federal agencies, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, and publishers should work to ensure that the performance and reporting of the research that we fund, support, and communicate is consistent with this view of impact.
- The consistency and impact of research would be maximized by aligning our credit and reward systems, such as hiring and tenure and promotion processes, with rigorous, transparent, and open research practices.
- Federal agencies, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, and publishers could enhance research rigor, integrity, openness, and transparency by actively aligning these systems and striving to coordinate policies and procedures.
As summarized by White House OSTP Director Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier after the meeting, “Integrity, rigor, and openness are at the core of scientific values. These issues apply to all fields of research and everyone benefits from research that is rigorously designed, conducted, and transparently reported. OSTP convened Federal agencies, academia, philanthropic organizations, publishing groups, and other stakeholders for robust conversations on further actions that those funding, conducting, and communicating research can take to enhance these issue areas. These efforts are a key component of the Joint Committee on the Research Environment, and I am looking forward to what this subcommittee will accomplish.”