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Short abstract:

Transparency requires documenting entire scientific processes, including diverse human labor from science experts & amateurs. Our Helio Model argues that different aspects of scientific processes require different media to effectively document researchers’ decisions, actions, & interpretations.

Long abstract:

As the primary source of scientific information, the journal paper is faced with a crisis of purpose. Ostensibly, it should increase scientific knowledge by transparently documenting the research process. In practice, traditional papers are incomplete records –they do not acknowledge diverse human labor nor can they accommodate different information types involved in science. Our ‘Helio Model’ of scientific documentation improves transparency and reproducibility by acknowledging varied labor and outputs in science, and by advocating for the most appropriate media to transparently document researchers’ decisions, actions, and interpretations.

While developments in information technology and the open source movement have reduced barriers to producing, editing, and distributing different media types, this shift alone is insufficient to effectively communicate scientific processes. Researchers of all types must first recognize that they are doing much more than a paper describes: ‘showing is better than telling’ is particularly true for science, but the plots and figures common in articles are not sufficient to capture the richness and variety of scientific processes. For example, experimental procedures difficult to describe verbally could be clarified with video demonstrations. By highlighting more diverse human labor–not just research outputs but who contributes to knowledge building–the Helio model facilitates documentation and acknowledgement of all contributions, including from amateur and citizen scientists. Using Helio, researchers of all kinds can learn to recognize the full range of their work and to consider what media is best suited to communicating the different aspects of the scientific process optimally, ideally from the very beginning.