Practices for increasing the efficiency and usability of scientific research
Renato Vidić
(Ruđer Bošković Institute)
Antica Culina
(Ruder Boskovic Institute)
Anita Tarandek
(Ruđer Bošković Institute)
Marija Purgar
(Ruđer Bošković Institute)
Paper Short Abstract
Few studies reach their full informative potential due to research and publishing inefficiencies, causing research waste. We collected practices that reduce waste at different stages of research and strategies that funders, publishers and institutions can apply to increase the use of best practices.
Paper Abstract
Scientific research is often conducted in a suboptimal manner, while many research projects also remain unpublished. This reduces the informative value of such research for the wider scientific and non-scientific audience and has been termed as ‘research waste’. Open scientific practices such as pre-registration, open data and similar have a strong potential to increase the efficiency and usability of research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify open, but also other research practices that decrease research waste as well as strategies, applied by funders, publishers, and research institutions, that encourage the application of such best practices. To this end, we conducted a hackathon in which 28 participants were given published literature on the topic of increasing research quality and decreasing research waste. They were asked to identify research practices that increase the efficiency and usability of research by improving one or more phases (relevance of research, study planning, reporting, publication, implementation of results). Participants also recorded strategies that promote such best scientific practices, as well as stakeholders in the scientific system (institutions, funders, publishers) who are responsible for implementing these strategies. Through the hackathon, we identified 13 relevant research practices and a large number of strategies to mitigate research waste. These strategies include development of infrastructure, support, training, incentivizing, policy making and policy compliance monitoring. This work provides a valuable foundation for further development of tools and guidelines to increase the efficiency of scientific research. The poster will be interactive to collect any additional relevant practices and strategies.
Accepted Poster
Paper Short Abstract
Paper Abstract
Scientific research is often conducted in a suboptimal manner, while many research projects also remain unpublished. This reduces the informative value of such research for the wider scientific and non-scientific audience and has been termed as ‘research waste’. Open scientific practices such as pre-registration, open data and similar have a strong potential to increase the efficiency and usability of research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify open, but also other research practices that decrease research waste as well as strategies, applied by funders, publishers, and research institutions, that encourage the application of such best practices. To this end, we conducted a hackathon in which 28 participants were given published literature on the topic of increasing research quality and decreasing research waste. They were asked to identify research practices that increase the efficiency and usability of research by improving one or more phases (relevance of research, study planning, reporting, publication, implementation of results). Participants also recorded strategies that promote such best scientific practices, as well as stakeholders in the scientific system (institutions, funders, publishers) who are responsible for implementing these strategies. Through the hackathon, we identified 13 relevant research practices and a large number of strategies to mitigate research waste. These strategies include development of infrastructure, support, training, incentivizing, policy making and policy compliance monitoring. This work provides a valuable foundation for further development of tools and guidelines to increase the efficiency of scientific research. The poster will be interactive to collect any additional relevant practices and strategies.
Poster session
Session 1 Tuesday 1 July, 2025, -