An open research lifecycle involves sharing of each step of the process, including not only scientific papers but also data (raw and processed), metadata, methods, software. In this way, the process of building on top of the original scientific idea is eased and it profits from a solid and peer reviewd chain of knowledge that leads to new and improved scientific results.

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The whole research should be shared:

  • research ideas: share your research idea could give you a rapid feedback and a taste of public interest on your research. Some specific journals are made for that, RIO is an example.
  • research data - raw and ancilary files: you’ll never know how others could suggest you to use (or use for themselves) the data you collected. So, to make data really reusable it is necessary to furnish not only raw data, but also all the connected data (e.g. calibration files) which could help to better or diffrently interpret your original data.
  • research data - eaborated data: in order to make your research really reproducible.
  • source code: if you write code related to your research, it is your responsibility to demostrate that the results you obtained came from a clear and fair workflow. To meet the reproducibility of your research share your source code, make it Open!
  • results: sharing your results, mainly through scientific papers, but also releasing source of images used in the paper, workflows and so on.
  • reviews: it is also possible to set all the reviews Open. In fact, with the traditional (close) system of review, it could happen that the selected reviewers of a paper are not particularly skilled in the matter or have no time to write the review and the result could not be as good as expected. Adopting an open review system all the targeted public is a potential reviewer, reviews are freely available to be read (and often commented!) to everyone and the whole process is clear. An open reviews process leads to broadly agreed results.
  • new research ideas: ideas coming from “outside” the project could integrate and let emerge new ideas wich led to advancement in the same research project and/or new research lines. Sharing research ideas means widening the rage of opportunity for your and others’ research.