# TORCH: The Transparent and Open Research Collaboration in Health ![enter image description here][1] # Our team We are a group of early-mid career health and medical researchers, scientists, professionals, and practitioners, based in Australia, Ireland, and the UK. From left to right: [Georgia Richards][2], [Aidan Cashin][3], [Elaine Toomey][4], [Hopin Lee][5], [Matthew Bagg][6], [Ian Skinner][7], [Nadia Soliman][8], [Matthew Jones][9], [Harrison Hansford][10] and [Michael Ferraro][11]. You can read about each of us and our roles [here][12]. ---------- # Our mission We are a grassroots network that works openly, transparently and collaboratively to generate knowledge and proactively advocate for open science to improve the evidence ecosystem. Our three pillars, include: 1. Knowledge creation 2. Proactive advocacy 3. Impact ---------- # 1: Knowledge creation Since we started TORCH (previously OPeRA) in 2018, we have worked collaboratively to conduct and published over **20** evaluations, reviews, methods articles and blogs, summarised below. Reference | Project | ---------|-------| [Lee et al. 2018][13] *PAIN* | Topical review on reproducible and replicable **pain research** | [Cashin et al. 2019][14] *BMJ EBM* | Cross-sectional evaluation of **pain journals** open science policies | [Toomey 2019][15] *HRB Open Res Blog* | Open science Workshop for early-career researchers | [Zečević et al. 2020][16] *HRB Open Res* | Mixed methods study to explore factors that influence the practice of **open science** | [Buttner et al. 2020][17] *Brit J Sports Med* | An education review of questionable research practices in **sports medicine** | [Richards et al. 2020][18] *BMJ EBM Spotlight* | Blog on the open science policies of **pain journals** | [Bradley et al. 2020][19] *JRSM* | Critical overview of biases in **medical research** | [Schwamm and Toomey 2020][20] *Bitss* | Open Scholarship Week | [Hansford et al. 2021][21] *Arthroscopy* | Cross-sectional evaluation of **sport science journals** open science policies | [Cashin et al. 2021][22] *BMJ EBM* | Methods article on the registration of **health and medical research** | [Lee et al. 2021][23] *JAMA* | Development of a **reporting guideline** for mediation analysis of randomized trials - the AGReMA statement | [Toomey & Zecevic 2021][24] *HRB Open Res Blog* | Open science for early-career researchers | [Gardener et al. 2022][25] *JRSM Open* | Evaluation of **medical and health sciences journals** open science policies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic | [Hansford et al. 2022][26] *Sports Medicine Open* | Feasibility of an audit and feedback intervention to promote transparency and openness in **sport science research** | [Hansford et al. 2022][27] *Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy* | Editorial on the openness and transparency of **sport science research** and role of journals | [Norris et al. 2022][28] *Psychology & Health* | Delphi exercise of open science research priorities in **health psychology** | [Bradley et al. 2022][29] *BJGP* | Letter on the lessons learned from promoting Registered Reports for **health and medical journals** | [DeVito et al. 2022][30] *BMJ EBM* | Methods article on sharing study materials in **health and medical research** | [Parsons et al. 2022][31] *Nature Human Behaviour* | Contributions to the **glossary of open scholarship terms** | [Hansford et al. 2023][32] *JOSPT* | Mixed methods study on barriers and facilitators to **use of intervention reporting guidelines** | [Ferraro et al. 2023][33] *PAIN* | Characteristics of retracted publications related to pain research: a systematic review | ---------- # 2: Advocacy We proactively speak and teach open science, as summarised below. Event | Location & dates | Details | ---------|-----------|-----------| SPRING | Sydney, Australia; *2019* | Presentation | NUI Galway | Ireland; *Jan 2019* | Open Science: An early career researcher perspective | Open Science Week | Galway, Ireland; *Jan 2019* | NUI | Intro 2 day workshop | Galway, Ireland; *April 2019* | Open science for early career researchers in health | ResBaz | Sydney, Australia; *10-12 Sep 2019* | Presentation by Matthew Bagg and Aidan Cashin, [Take Up TOP!][34] | Pint of Science | Oxford, *23 Oct 2019* | Georgia Richards was an invited panelist for the '[Clinical trial transparency - let's talk][35]' discussion for Open Access week | AIMOS 2019 | Melbourne, Australia; *7-8 Nov 2019* | Poster presentation by Aidan Cashin, [Take Up TOP!][36] | RROx launch | Oxford, UK; *Jan 2020* | Presentation by Georgia Richards on the work of OPeRA/TORCH | Open Scholarship Week | Online; *2020* | European Health Psychology Society Annual Conference | 2020 | Co-convened/chaired symposium on 'What is open science and how can it improve the quality of health psychology' | Evidence Synthesis & Meta-Analysis in R Conference | Online; *Jan 2021* | Invited Panelist for the Open synthesis session | Invited speaker | Aberdeen, Scotland; *March 2021* | Fidelity and Transparency in Health Behaviour Change Research | Hackathon | Online, *27 Apr 2021* | Citizen science event led by Georgia Richards in collaboration with COS [to promote and educate journals of registered reports][37] | EMERGE network seminar sessions | Limerick, Ireland; *May 2021* | Open science for early and mid career researchers | Event | Online; *Aug 2021* | Open Science in Systematic Reviews: Open Synthesis | University of Plymouth Research Seminar Series | Online; *Dec 2021* | Open science for early (and mid!) career academics | EBHC Summer School | Oxford, UK *11 July 2022* | Georgia Richards co-led a half-day workshop on Open Science Research Practices for students enrolled in the Evidence-Based Healthcare programmes (i.e. MSc & DPhil) at the University of Oxford Cochrane PaPaS: Trust, Integrity and the Future of Pain Evidence | London, UK *7 Dec 2022* | Keynote presentation by Georgia Richards, [Opening up pain science][38] | CEBM Seminar Series: Major challenges in EBM, a history and philosophy | Oxford, UK; *25 Jan 2023* | Presentation by Georgia Richards, Opening the 'E' in EBM | EHPS Open Science Special Interest Group Seminar Series | Online; *13 Jun 2023* | Presentation by GJ Peters, Copyright & Copywrong: [Q&A about licenses and how they matter for Open Science][39] | ---------- # 3: Impact * Our methods have been replicated to examine the transparency and openness policies of sleep ([Spitschan et al. 2021)][40], dental ([Raittio et al. 2022][41]), Chinese biomedical/medicine ([Wei et al. 2022][42]), complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine ([Ng et al. 2023][43]), and physical therapy ([Plante et al. 2024][44]) journals. * The *Journal of Physiotherapy* and *PAIN* updated their openness and transparency policies following consultations with our team * The *Journal of Pain* has recruited three Openness and Transparency Editors, including two TORCH members, Dr Nadia Soliman and Dr Aidan Cashin. * Three members of TORCH, Dr Nadia Soliman, Dr Georgia Richards, and Michael Ferraro were invited co-applicants on the Neuron ERA-NET Networking Group on Chronic Pain (€50,000; Co-applicant) for the project titled [Enhancing Trust in Pain Evidence (ENTRUST-PE)][45] * Dr Georgia Richards was awarded the Kings Prize Fellowship * Harrison Hansford was awarded the 2024 Neuroscience Research Australia Research Quality Prize for the practice of transparent and open research practices ---------- # Current projects & grants Num | Project | Scope | Status | --|---------|-------|--------- 1 | COS-led initiative to evaluate journal policies and advocate for open science practices | All fields | Contributing 2 | A randomised controlled trial that tests an intervention to change journal policies to mandate or encourage transparency and openness of pain research | Health research | Protocol development 3 | An audit of institutional policies that support open science practices in hiring, promotion, tenure and general conduct | All fields | Protocol development 4 | Development of the Transparent Reporting of Studies Emulating a Target Trial (TARGET) Guideline | Health research | under development 5 | Research Priority #1 from Norris et al 2022: Exploring current practice of open science behaviours in health psychology | Health Psychology, Behavioural Science | under preparation 6 | Neuron ERA-NET Networking Group on Chronic Pain co-applicants for [Enhancing Trust in Pain Evidence (ENTRUST-PE)][45] | Pain research | Ongoing --------- # Funding TORCH has not received any core funding to support our work. Our COI's are listed in [our bios here][46]. [1]: https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/h239s/providers/osfstorage/65ad9ba397381902b2396e9f?mode=render [2]: https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/team/georgia-richards [3]: https://www.neura.edu.au/staff/aidan-cashin/ [4]: https://www.ul.ie/research/dr-elaine-toomey [5]: https://www.ndorms.ox.ac.uk/team/hopin-lee [6]: https://www.neura.edu.au/staff/matthew-bagg/ [7]: https://science-health.csu.edu.au/schools/health-exercise-sports/staff/profiles/physiotherapy/ian-skinner [8]: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/n.soliman16 [9]: https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/matthew-jones [10]: https://harrisonhansford.home.blog/ [11]: https://neura.edu.au/researchers/michael-ferraro [12]: https://osf.io/h239s/wiki/Who%20are%20we%3F/ [13]: https://journals.lww.com/pain/Fulltext/2018/09000/Reproducible_and_replicable_pain_research__a.5.aspx [14]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2019-111296 [15]: https://blog.hrbopenresearch.org/2019/04/24/demystifying-open-science-and-empowering-advocacy-a-two-day-workshop-for-early-career-researchers-in-health-research/ [16]: https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13119.2 [17]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32699001/ [18]: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotlight/2020/02/11/shining-a-spotlight-on-the-policies-of-pain-journals/ [19]: https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076820956799 [20]: https://www.bitss.org/2020/06/02/open-scholarship-week-2020-embracing-openness-in-ireland-and-beyond/ [21]: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arthro.2021.09.005 [22]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2021-111836 [23]: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2784353 [24]: https://blog.hrbopenresearch.org/2021/03/16/do-early-career-researchers-feel-encouraged-to-practise-open-science/ [25]: https://doi.org/10.1177/20542704221132139 [26]: https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-022-00496-x [27]: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00167-022-06893-9 [28]: https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2022.2139830 [29]: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp22X721241 [30]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2022-111987 [31]: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01269-4 [32]: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2023.12110 [33]: https://journals.lww.com/pain/fulltext/2023/11000/characteristics_of_retracted_publications_related.2.aspx [34]: https://research.unsw.edu.au/resbaz-sydney [35]: https://pintofscience.co.uk/event/clinical-trial-transparency--lets-talk [36]: https://aimos.community/aimos2019 [37]: https://www.cos.io/blog/help-us-improve-health-research [38]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KblmRKvC1E [39]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sywhT2PXjAY [40]: https://doi.org/10.1111/eos.12908 [41]: https://osf.io/h239s/wiki/Who%20are%20we?/ [42]: https://www.cjstp.cn/EN/10.11946/cjstp.202107050541 [43]: http://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.07.23299670 [44]: https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzad133 [45]: https://entrust-pe.org/ [46]: https://osf.io/h239s/wiki/Who%20are%20we?/