What's in a Badge? A Computational Reproducibility Investigation of the Open Data Badge Policy in One Issue of Psychological Science

In April 2019, Psychological Science published its first issue in which all Research Articles received the Open Data badge. We used that issue to investigate the effectiveness of this badge, focusing on the adherence to its aim at Psychological Science: sharing both data and code to ensure reproducibility of results. Twelve researchers of varying experience levels attempted to reproduce the results of the empirical articles in the target issue (at least three researchers per article). We found that all 14 articles provided at least some data and six provided analysis code, but only one article was rated to be exactly reproducible, and three were rated as essentially reproducible with minor deviations. We suggest that researchers should be encouraged to adhere to the higher standard in force at Psychological Science. Moreover, a check of reproducibility during peer review may be preferable to the disclosure method of awarding badges.

Automated summary

In April 2019, Psychological Science published its first issue with the Open Data badge, requiring researchers to share data and code for reproducibility. However, a study found that only one out of 14 articles in the issue was fully reproducible, with minor deviations in three others. The study suggests the need for encouraging researchers to adhere to higher standards and implementing reproducibility checks during peer review.