Open Science Checklist

What is the Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist?

The Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist (UV-OSCL) is a list of 14 items that helps researchers in all phases of their research to follow open science principles in their work. These open science principles are transparency, accessibility, reproducibility, citizen science and FAIR data management. The UV-OSCL is also aimed at inspiring managers and quality officers of knowledge centres and Centres of Expertise (CoE) to adopt policies that maximise responsible research practices. This can be done by making the checklist a central part of research applications, research implementation and monitoring of research programmes.

How do you use the Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist?
The checklist can be used both structurally and occasionally.

Structural use. The checklist achieves maximum potential if the management of knowledge centres and CoEs use the checklist as a policy tool and organise their pre-award and post-award research processes based on the checklist items. Each year, for example, a data steward could, in an open dialogue with project researchers, check which of the 14 items have been satisfied. This allows the progress of the knowledge centre or CoE to be monitored over time and gives insight into which items are difficult or easy to implement and how the policy (or possibly the checklist itself) can be adjusted accordingly. It is highly advisable that professors with final responsibility for the research attend such talks.

Occasional use. Researchers can use the checklist as a compass in research projects which, if followed, leads to highly responsible research practice and avoids ‘research waste’. The UV‑OSCL starts with a general question about having an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) as one of the team members in the research project. This is followed by 13 items loosely arranged in a time sequence and divided into four phases of research: application, planning, implementation and completion. When using the checklist structurally, professors or support desk staff could engage with the researcher on how the team intends to implement the principles highlighted in the checklist. The checklist and accompanying infographic depicting the checklist are linked to 14 corresponding chapters of the Urban Vitality Open Science Research Manual via links. The manual succinctly but clearly explains the background of the items and how the corresponding principles can be satisfied efficiently.

The checklist can also be used by institutions to convey to grant providers that the institution endorses this checklist, aims to work according to its principles to the extent possible and can therefore guarantee that the grant will be spent on sound research.

What is the origin of the Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist?
The Urban Vitality Open Science Checklist was developed at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Notably, it stems from Regieorgaan SIA’s Mensen in Beweging (People on the Move) project. In 2020, the methodologist and the data steward (responsible for the Quality Improvement work package) combined their joint knowledge on four sources of inspiration in the checklist. These sources are the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, the Open Science transparency principles, the literature on Avoidable Research Waste and that on the replication crisis in science.