Box 1 TOP Guidelines
TOP Standard | Description | Proposed Benefit |
|---|---|---|
Data and Code Citation | Data and code citation involve the appropriate citation of pre-existing data and code used in the study | Appropriate citation of data and code helps recognize and credit these as original intellectual contributions |
Data; Analytic Methods (code); and Research Materials Transparency | Transparency of Data, code and research materials involves a statement indicating availability of these materials, and providing direction to them. This can be facilitated by public repositories such as OSF (osf.io), FigShare (figshare.com) and Dryad (datadryad.org) | Statements around, and the sharing of data, code and research materials aid the evaluation, verification or reproduction of research, as well as aiding evidence synthesis |
Design and Analysis Transparency | Design and analysis transparency involve appropriately reporting all aspects of research, facilitated by adhering to relevant reporting guidelines where available | Standards for reporting research design and analysis should maximize transparency about the research process and minimize potential for vague or incomplete reporting of the methodology. This may improve clinical translation of evidence, replication and proper evaluation |
Preregistration of Studies | Preregistration of studies involves a statement whether the study was preregistered, and information on how to access it | Study preregistration is very important to reduce questionable research practices, allow readers to assess any deviations from the pre-planned study and increase visibility of the research even if the study does not get published |
Preregistration of Analysis Plans | Preregistration of analysis plans involves an indication whether or not the conducted research was preregistered with an analysis plan, including the sequence of analyses or statistical model that will be reported | Preregistration of Analysis Plans certifies the distinction between confirmatory and exploratory research |
Replication | While not formally a transparency standard for authors, this section addresses journal policy for consideration of independent replications for publication, i.e. whether the journal encourages submission of replication studies or Registered Reports | Allowing replication studies to be published promotes verification and increased confidence in results |