Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The Open Science movement can be broadly summarised as aiming to promote integrity, repeatability and transparency across all aspects of research, from data collection to publication. To date, evidence synthesis has only partially embraced Open Science, typically striving for Open Methodology and Open Access, and occasionally providing sufficient information to be considered to have Open Data for some published reviews.
Objectives: To launch the Open Synthesis Working Group (OSWG) that advocates to increase reliability, trust and reuse of information collected and synthesised within a review.
Methods: The OSWG is a cross-disciplinary, diverse group of experts in evidence synthesis, evidence ecosystems and evidence synthesis technology. The group aims to develop a definition of Open Synthesis along with recommendations of how communities of practice can make evidence syntheses more Open, in terms of ways of working with stakeholders, methods, data, software, analytical code, publication access, peer-review and educational materials. The founders of this Group built a list of potentially interested researchers and other stakeholders, along with the criteria for joining.
Results: The group is voluntary and open, and aims to produce relevant working papers, definitions and supporting materials through ongoing collaboration and discussion.
Conclusions: It is hoped that the group will help to develop clear pathways to more transparent, rigorous and truly open evidence synthesis activities, leading to greater impact and stronger legacy across organisations such as Cochrane, the Campbell Collaboration and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: Open Synthesis would promote meaningful and fair engagement with patients and healthcare consumers. In advocating for Open Synthesis, this group is protecting patients indirectly by making evidence available and accessible: for example, if a patient (or other stakeholder) wishes to re-run an analysis that led to a decision favouring one treatment over another.
Objectives: To launch the Open Synthesis Working Group (OSWG) that advocates to increase reliability, trust and reuse of information collected and synthesised within a review.
Methods: The OSWG is a cross-disciplinary, diverse group of experts in evidence synthesis, evidence ecosystems and evidence synthesis technology. The group aims to develop a definition of Open Synthesis along with recommendations of how communities of practice can make evidence syntheses more Open, in terms of ways of working with stakeholders, methods, data, software, analytical code, publication access, peer-review and educational materials. The founders of this Group built a list of potentially interested researchers and other stakeholders, along with the criteria for joining.
Results: The group is voluntary and open, and aims to produce relevant working papers, definitions and supporting materials through ongoing collaboration and discussion.
Conclusions: It is hoped that the group will help to develop clear pathways to more transparent, rigorous and truly open evidence synthesis activities, leading to greater impact and stronger legacy across organisations such as Cochrane, the Campbell Collaboration and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: Open Synthesis would promote meaningful and fair engagement with patients and healthcare consumers. In advocating for Open Synthesis, this group is protecting patients indirectly by making evidence available and accessible: for example, if a patient (or other stakeholder) wishes to re-run an analysis that led to a decision favouring one treatment over another.