Awareness and use of open research practices: an international survey of researchers across disciplines

Journal article

Charlotte R. Pennington, Emma Norris, M. Skubera, Yalige Ba, R. Moffat, Olavo B. Amaral, Matúš Adamkovič, Arca Adıgüzel, Rafaela A. Almeida, J. Baldwin, Nick Ballou, Luiza Marques Prates Behrens, Michael G. Bertram, I. Bjerke, S. Blackwell, Agata Bochynska, M. D. de Boer, Ivan Buljan, C. B. Canales-Aguirre, Harry Carey, Vladimíra Čavojová, W. Cawthorn, Simon Christ, K. Cipora, Alden Conner, Federica P. Conte, Davide Crepaldi, David A. Ellis, Timothy M. Errington, E. Farran, Gordon B. Feld, R. Freitag, Paulina Gebauer, Sarah Gunn, Helena Hartmann, Vicky Hellon, Gabriela Hofer, Malika Ihle, Ayumi Ikeda, Andrew Jones, V. Jorge, Yusuph A. Kafula, T. Kalandadze, Veli-Matti Karhulahti, H. E. Kocalar, M. Lagisz, Margherita Lanz, Félix P. Leiva, M. T. Liuzza, Marcel Martončik, Hiroshi Matsui, M. Montefinese, David Moreau, David P. Morgan, Shinichi Nakagawa, Helen Niemeyer, G. Nilsonne, Carmen Penido, Sofia Persson, Elena Serena Piccardi, R. Rahal, J. Rajčáni, Ben Ridley, M. Scandola, F. Schönbrodt, Sandy Schumann, M. Soltanlou, James V. Steele, Suzanne L. K. Stewart, Eli S. J. Thoré, Luka Ursić, M. Vianello, V. Võikar, Nicholas C. Wu, Y. Yamada, Cemre Yilmaz, Naoto Yoshimura, Mircea Zloteanu, M. Žuljević, Marcus R. Munafò, Kait Clark
Royal Society Open Science, 2026

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APA Click to copy
Pennington, C. R., Norris, E., Skubera, M., Ba, Y., Moffat, R., Amaral, O. B., … Clark, K. (2026). Awareness and use of open research practices: an international survey of researchers across disciplines. Royal Society Open Science.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Pennington, Charlotte R., Emma Norris, M. Skubera, Yalige Ba, R. Moffat, Olavo B. Amaral, Matúš Adamkovič, et al. “Awareness and Use of Open Research Practices: an International Survey of Researchers across Disciplines.” Royal Society Open Science (2026).

MLA Click to copy
Pennington, Charlotte R., et al. “Awareness and Use of Open Research Practices: an International Survey of Researchers across Disciplines.” Royal Society Open Science, 2026.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{charlotte2026a,
  title = {Awareness and use of open research practices: an international survey of researchers across disciplines},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Royal Society Open Science},
  author = {Pennington, Charlotte R. and Norris, Emma and Skubera, M. and Ba, Yalige and Moffat, R. and Amaral, Olavo B. and Adamkovič, Matúš and Adıgüzel, Arca and Almeida, Rafaela A. and Baldwin, J. and Ballou, Nick and Behrens, Luiza Marques Prates and Bertram, Michael G. and Bjerke, I. and Blackwell, S. and Bochynska, Agata and de Boer, M. D. and Buljan, Ivan and Canales-Aguirre, C. B. and Carey, Harry and Čavojová, Vladimíra and Cawthorn, W. and Christ, Simon and Cipora, K. and Conner, Alden and Conte, Federica P. and Crepaldi, Davide and Ellis, David A. and Errington, Timothy M. and Farran, E. and Feld, Gordon B. and Freitag, R. and Gebauer, Paulina and Gunn, Sarah and Hartmann, Helena and Hellon, Vicky and Hofer, Gabriela and Ihle, Malika and Ikeda, Ayumi and Jones, Andrew and Jorge, V. and Kafula, Yusuph A. and Kalandadze, T. and Karhulahti, Veli-Matti and Kocalar, H. E. and Lagisz, M. and Lanz, Margherita and Leiva, Félix P. and Liuzza, M. T. and Martončik, Marcel and Matsui, Hiroshi and Montefinese, M. and Moreau, David and Morgan, David P. and Nakagawa, Shinichi and Niemeyer, Helen and Nilsonne, G. and Penido, Carmen and Persson, Sofia and Piccardi, Elena Serena and Rahal, R. and Rajčáni, J. and Ridley, Ben and Scandola, M. and Schönbrodt, F. and Schumann, Sandy and Soltanlou, M. and Steele, James V. and Stewart, Suzanne L. K. and Thoré, Eli S. J. and Ursić, Luka and Vianello, M. and Võikar, V. and Wu, Nicholas C. and Yamada, Y. and Yilmaz, Cemre and Yoshimura, Naoto and Zloteanu, Mircea and Žuljević, M. and Munafò, Marcus R. and Clark, Kait}
}

Abstract

This mixed methods study investigates international researchers' awareness and use of open research practices and explores variations across regions, disciplines, methodologies and career stages. A total of 3017 researchers across 45 countries and 24 disciplines completed the Brief Open Research Survey, reporting their awareness and use of 11 common open research practices and factors that would support their adoption. Across the sample, respondents reported high awareness of open access publications, preprints and open data, and awareness only fell below 50% for research co-production and registered reports. Use was high for open access publications, but fell below 50% for preprints, open data, open research, open materials, open peer review, open code, preregistration, research co-production, replication and registered reports. Awareness and use varied across the sampled regions (e.g. Europe versus Asia), disciplines (e.g. psychology versus physical sciences), methodologies (e.g. quantitative versus qualitative) and career stages (e.g. PhD students versus professors). Respondents reported that the top five supportive strategies were incentives from funders, institutions and regulators; dedicated funding; recognition in promotion and recruitment criteria; more training; and more information. Qualitative responses provide insight into challenges and opportunities. Estimates of awareness can guide training initiatives, while estimates of use can inform policy development and longitudinal evaluations of behaviour change. Variations between regions, disciplines, methodologies and career stages should be acknowledged.