As the ASHA Journals Program continues to evolve to better suit the needs of readers and researchers, we’re focusing on transparency in research. Last month, we announced registered reports, a new article type that emphasizes the importance of quality research and methodology by conducting peer review prior to data collection and committing to publishing the results regardless of outcome.

Now, the ASHA journals are joining more than 1,000 other journals around the world in implementing Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines. These guidelines introduce new data-sharing standards, outlined below.

More on TOP

TOP guidelines ask authors to share any number of items related to their study—including data, program code, and other methods outlined in the article. When authors are transparent, other scientists can replicate and validate findings, in turn building trust in the science. In addition, researchers support new work based on their previous findings, making the research process easier for all.

Consistent with these guidelines, the ASHA Journals Program expects, but does not require, authors to share data when submitting an article to one of our journals. We encourage authors who do wish to share their data to do so via a data repository.[1] You can find more information on depositing data, as well as how to cite this data, on the Research Data Standards page of the ASHA Journals Academy.

In addition, authors are now required to include a data availability statement with their article. This statement lets readers know where to find the data referenced in the article—or gives the authors an opportunity to explain why the data cannot be shared and whether readers can contact the author for data. Templates for writing these statements are available on the Research Data Standards page of the ASHA Journals Academy.

Celebrate Research Transparency With Open Science Badges

If you’ve chosen to share your data, you can show your commitment to open science by applying for a badge for your article. Open science badges show readers at a glance that the authors have adhered to open science practices.

Authors can apply for any of five currently available open science badges by including a badge disclosure form when submitting a revision of their manuscript in Editorial Manager. The disclosure is reviewed for accuracy before it’s published alongside the article; however, authors are accountable to the research community for disclosure accuracy. You can learn more about the five badges and access the disclosure form on our Open Science Badges page.

Promoting Open Science

We at the ASHA Journals Program believe that transparency and openness in science benefits readers, future researchers, and even the authors sharing their data. We’re pleased to take this next step, and we look forward to the support of the thousands of authors with whom we work every year.

If you’re an author who is looking for more information on TOP guidelines, we encourage you to visit the Center for Open Science. Once you have all the information you need, you can head over to the ASHA Journals Academy and read about our program’s research data standards, including a checklist for authors looking to share their data.

References

Storkel, H. L., & Gallun, F. J. (2022). Announcing a new registered report article type at the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00513

[1] Also known as a data library or data archive, the term data repository refers to a storage space or database infrastructure that is isolated and that collects, manages, and stores data so that others can mine it for analysis, sharing, and reporting.