Towards open, reliable, and transparent ecology and evolutionary biology

Unreliable research programmes waste funds, time, and even the lives of the organisms we seek to help and understand. Reducing this waste and increasing the value of scientific evidence require changing the actions of both individual researchers and the institutions they depend on for employment and promotion. While ecologists and evolutionary biologists have somewhat improved research transparency over the past decade (e.g. more data sharing), major obstacles remain. In this commentary, we lift our gaze to the horizon to imagine how researchers and institutions can clear the path towards more credible and effective research programmes.

Automated summary

Reducing research waste and increasing scientific evidence value requires changes in actions of researchers and institutions, with a focus on transparency and data sharing. While improvements have been made by ecologists and evolutionary biologists in the past decade, challenges still remain.