Toward Reproducible and Extensible Research: from Values to Action

The National Academies report, "Reproducibility and Replicability in Science," outlines values and broad goals for reproducible and replicable scientific research, emphasizing the importance of its availability and transparency. Confronted with these goals, we examine what it means for research material to be transparent, available, and reproducible. As early-career researchers, we advocate for the focus to be placed on reusable and extensible research, which is naturally achieved when research material is reproducible, transparent, and open. When we understand the inner workings of a study, have access to its inputs and outputs, and are able to achieve the same results ourselves, we can more easily reuse, extend, and generalize prior efforts. To achieve the outlined reproducibility goals, one needs actionable steps that facilitate implementation and help mark progress in practice. We discuss concrete guidelines and checklists as tools for actionable reproducibility. We emphasize how a set of hierarchical recommendations that give an order of importance to the various aspects of reproducibility, transparency, and openness would help researchers facing limited resources prioritize accordingly. Finally, we discuss how training, new roles focusing on reproducibility, and supportive work environments would be beneficial.