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10 Ways to Support Open Science Today (Even Before We Launch)

Open science isn’t a distant goal — it’s something you can support right now, with whatever time, resources, or platform you have. Whether you’re a student, researcher, journal club regular, or just science-curious, there are small and meaningful steps you can take to help build a more transparent, inclusive, and trustworthy scientific ecosystem.

Here are 10 ways to support open science today — no platform required.

1. 📖 Read Open Access Papers

Start by choosing open access versions of papers whenever possible. You can often find free preprints or versions on repositories like arXiv, bioRxiv, or institutional websites.

✅ Tip: Use Unpaywall or Open Access Button to find free versions.

If you’ve published or presented work, consider making your data publicly available (with ethical/privacy considerations in mind). Platforms like OSF, Zenodo, or Figshare make it easy.

Even small datasets or cleaned versions can be useful.

3. 💬 Talk About Reproducibility

Bring up open science in journal clubs, lab meetings, and casual academic conversations. Just asking, “Did they share the data?” or “Could this be replicated?” helps normalise a culture of transparency.

4. 🗣️ Challenge the Metrics Narrative

Speak up when research quality is being reduced to impact factor, H-index, or citation counts.

Push for qualitative discussions. Ask: What makes this paper actually useful or trustworthy?

5. 🖋️ Sign the DORA Declaration

If your lab or institution hasn’t already, suggest signing the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

It’s a clear step toward reforming how research is evaluated.

6. 👀 Review Thoughtfully (and Constructively)

If you’re invited to review a paper — formally or informally — take it seriously. Be fair, constructive, and rigorous. Good reviewing is part of open science too.

7. 🧪 Preregister a Study

If you’re planning a project, consider preregistering your hypotheses and methods in advance. It strengthens your work and makes it more trustworthy, even if the results aren’t flashy.

8. 🗃️ Use Open Tools

Use and contribute to open-source tools for analysis, writing, and collaboration. R, Python, JASP, Zotero, and Quarto are just a few examples.

Bonus: they usually have great communities and documentation.

Support people doing good work by sharing it. Follow researchers, journals, and initiatives that centre openness, reproducibility, and equity.

(And yes, we’d love it if you followed @paperstarsorg.blsky.social too.)

10. ⭐ Stay Curious (and Keep Asking Questions)

Open science is built on curiosity, humility, and accountability. You don’t have to be an expert or an advocate — just asking thoughtful questions and staying open is already a meaningful step.

🌟 Why This Matters

Platforms like Paperstars can help, but change doesn’t start with tech — it starts with culture. And culture starts with us.

Whether you’re deep into your academic career or just beginning, your choices help shape what science looks like next.

We’re building Paperstars to help make those choices easier — but until we launch, these ten actions are a powerful place to begin.