Local networks of researchers at more than 40 leading UK research universities and institutions make-up the UK Reproducibility Network. Together, and with support from more than 25 stakeholders – publishers including Wiley, learned societies, and funders –these networks are trying to understand what we all need to do to improve research and then sharing this knowledge. The aim is to help us all to make research reliable, robust, and impactful, and to make waves. And now the UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN) has announced support from the UK universities where ten of these networks are based, each of which has appointed a senior academic role to lead research improvement: Bristol, Edinburgh, Keele, Newcastle, Oxford Brookes, the Royal Veterinary College, Sheffield, Surrey, and UCL.

Professor Marcus Munafò says that improving research quality needs collective action. “The commitment of so many universities to work together, and with the UK Reproducibility Network,” he says, “represents an exciting and potentially transformative step.” Marcus chairs the UK Reproducibility Network, steering group.

We all have a role we could choose to play. At Wiley, and with UK Reproducibility Network, we chose to create a program of campus workshops for research mentors and the people that they offer mentorship to. We’re co-designing the workshops, with local researchers, for mid-career and early-career researchers. Starting in the new year, we’ll be visiting universities, research institutions, and royal colleges to share how we help researchers make waves with their research, show our support,  as well as listen and learn.  

Look out for more from your university for dates and to sign-up locally. And what can you expect, if you do? You’ll leave with insights into how to publish successfully with open research practices, and with information, you can share with your peers, mentors, and mentees. Topics we’ll cover include:

• Two open research practices that get you feedback early in your project, at two times when that feedback really matters: Registered Reports* and Preprints** (*Before you start your study, and **before you submit to a journal).
• The data you create (as well as the articles you write), why FAIRsharing might become your “go-to” when you plan to manage your data and prepare to share it, and how you can connect your research data with your articles.
• Authorship and how describing your individual contributions with an open standard (called CRediT) can increase recognition for your research. We’ll cover how you can correctly identify all your research and scholarly contributions across disciplines, borders, and time (and enable others to identify you and your work, too) by getting and using your ORCiD unique identifier.
• Amplifying your work, enhancing your profile, and achieving more by adopting open practices and publishing openly.

We look forward to seeing you there. And if you’re a PVC for Research and Innovation, a scholarly communications librarian, a university research integrity officer or, indeed, a UK Reproducibility Network local network lead whom we haven’t spoken with yet, please do get in touch if you would like to co-create a workshop with us for your campus.

You can reach us at cgraf@wiley.com Thanks!