## Take up TOP! ## Take up TOP! is a collaborative project between the [Center for Open Science][1], OPeRA (Open Pain Research Appraisal & Advocacy), and perhaps you! The purpose of this initiative is to increase standards for scientific publications through comparative evaluation of journal policies. Surprisingly, empirical research that relies on collected data is not routinely backed up through access to that data, and scientific methodologies are often shrouded through unclear practices that are not disclosed or described in detail. The solution to these problems is transparency and openness in the scientific workflow, and peer reviewed journals are the primary avenue by which these studies are disseminated. The Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines ([TOP][3]) provide eight specific standards for journals and research funders to implement, each of which can be implemented in one of three levels of increasing rigor: **Disclosure**, **Requirement**, **Verification**. For example, the Data Transparency standard includes: - **Level 1**: A requirement that empirical articles state whether or not data are available - **Level 2**: A mandate that data be made available (except when ethical or legally impossible). - **Level 3**: Shared data must be checked for reproducibility by a third party prior to publication. [**The TOP Policy Evaluation Tool**][4] allows you to evaluate the policies of journals within your discipline. The result is a sortable list of author policies, with the highest levels being the journals that are doing the most to impose strict expectations for scientific evidence and promote transparent and open scientific practice by the scientists whose work they publish. ### Table of Contents ### - The [workflow][5] page includes specific instructions to get started. - The [manual][6] contains definitions and instructions for determining whether or not a policy encourages or requires various practices covered under TOP. - If you would like to use this process as part of a study you are conducting, please consider preregistering it and referring to the [protocol][7] page. - The [dissemination][8] page has materials such as template letters for reaching out to editors and publishers. - Finally, we maintain a [record][9] of all journals that have been evaluated and contacted to date ---------- [1]: http://cos.io [2]: https://www.neura.edu.au/ [3]: http://cos.io/top [4]: https://forms.gle/LdET6AEG8qm31nsk8 [5]: https://osf.io/fe2pz/wiki/01-Workflow/ [6]: https://osf.io/fe2pz/wiki/02-Manual/ [7]: https://osf.io/fe2pz/wiki/03-Protocol/ [8]: https://osf.io/fe2pz/wiki/04-Dissemination/ [9]: https://osf.io/fe2pz/wiki/05-Record/