Key challenges in epidemiology: Embracing open science.

Abstract

Open science is a movement that fosters research transparency, reproducibility, and equity. Open science has been put forward by numerous stakeholders in the research ecosystem as a key science policy goal, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) creating recommendations on open science and aligning these with UN Sustainability Goals. Open science practices are not standard to epidemiology despite their potential value to the field and especially during disease outbreaks. This article highlights core open science practices, including study registration, open data, code, and material, use of reporting guideline, open access publishing and, preprints. It aims to provide readers with the fundamentals about open science, relevant international policy for open science, and the value of implementing open science for epidemiology and society as a whole. It is a practical piece that will provide readers with a starting point to expand their understanding of open science and to identify tools to learn more. The article also highlights the challenges of open science in its implementation and the importance of monitoring open science practices.