The Open Science Bible Psychology needed

It's been just under a decade since the Open Science Collaboration (2015) brought psychology's methodological shortcomings to the fore: as published in Science, the findings from only 36 per cent of 100 randomly selected psychology studies could be replicated. The so-called 'replication crisis' in psychology has paved way for a credibility revolution and ushered in new scientific practices to increase methodological rigour and reproducibility. As with any set of new tools, there is a learning curve. Established researchers and their students alike have struggled to find their footing with the rapidly evolving approach to research known as 'open science', and there has been no single resource to explain the whys and the hows – until now.

In A Student's Guide to Open Science, Charlotte Pennington takes her readers on a journey through the rocky history that propelled the open science revolution forward and responds to methodological shortcomings with clear and directive advice. Pennington's writing brings her inspirational teaching voice to life and provides a warm environment for exploring some tough-to-swallow truths. Her brilliant narrative manages to be accessible for an undergraduate student without sacrificing complexity and is undoubtedly informative for even seasoned open scientists. Her writing is also intimately human – an appropriate feel for a book highlighting the humanity of scientists. 

Pennington opens with a relatable personal journey: she had almost lost her passion for psychology after discovering the flimsiness of effects she once accepted as truth. The first half of her book recounts the history behind the open science movement, and importantly, she recognises the failures that have driven this crisis as well-meaning human errors rather than malice. The message is not one of judgment or condemnation; instead, Pennington explains the structural pressures that have led us to our irreplicable predicament. Apart from some rare and isolated incidents of outright fraud, the behaviours leading to the replication crisis grew from the scientific norms and demands of the time. 

But what may have been a dark tale of scientific failures soon shifts to a story of hope. Pennington rediscovered her love for research through her pursuit of open science, and we, too, can turn dodgy-science lemons into robust-science lemonade. In the latter chapters, Pennington walks her readers through a range of practices, from basic processes like posting preprints to more elaborate endeavours like big team science, with a riveting history and rationale for each. The context is followed by specific, concrete, and easy-to-follow advice; Pennington holds the hands of the many students and researchers interested in getting started with open science but too daunted to know where to begin. In her signature style, Pennington is remarkably comprehensive: she covers options for data-sharing platforms, example codebooks, and preregistration templates, and she even provides example ethics materials covering open science practices.

A Student's Guide to Open Science is a masterpiece from start to finish, but perhaps what sets this book apart the most is Pennington's inviting tone. It's rare that what is essentially an instructive academic book is such a page turner. I first had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of this book when I wrote a short note of praise for the inside cover. To write this review a while later, I reread this guide in one sitting. Pennington breathes life into what may have been a dry, procedural topic and peppers the scientific detail with entertaining anecdotes and activities. This thrilling guide is an invitation to, as Pennington says, sample from the open science buffet. Anyone who reads her book will be going back for seconds.

- Kait Clark, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of the West of England and UWE's Local Network Lead for the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN).

Read Charlotte Pennington's article in our forthcoming July/August issue.