The Tao of open science for ecology

TLDR

Ecology is poised to leverage emerging technologies for data, methods, and results, yet barriers to open science—such as limited access to data, code, and papers—may hinder widespread adoption. The authors aim to outline key mindset shifts that facilitate a transition to open science and provide an overview of tools and best practices to support these shifts throughout the research process. These mindset shifts involve prioritizing data stewardship over ownership, ensuring transparency across the data life‑cycle, and welcoming public critique, while the authors recommend tools for data management planning, reproducible analyses, feedback solicitation, and broader dissemination of research products. Adopting these changes, though initially unfamiliar, can enhance ecological research by fostering collegiality and expanding access to data and findings.

Abstract

The field of ecology is poised to take advantage of emerging technologies that facilitate the gathering, analyzing, and sharing of data, methods, and results. The concept of transparency at all stages of the research process, coupled with free and open access to data, code, and papers, constitutes “open science.” Despite the many benefits of an open approach to science, a number of barriers to entry exist that may prevent researchers from embracing openness in their own work. Here we describe several key shifts in mindset that underpin the transition to more open science. These shifts in mindset include thinking about data stewardship rather than data ownership, embracing transparency throughout the data life‐cycle and project duration, and accepting critique in public. Though foreign and perhaps frightening at first, these changes in thinking stand to benefit the field of ecology by fostering collegiality and broadening access to data and findings. We present an overview of tools and best practices that can enable these shifts in mindset at each stage of the research process, including tools to support data management planning and reproducible analyses, strategies for soliciting constructive feedback throughout the research process, and methods of broadening access to final research products.