Abstract: Have you ever tried to reproduce the results presented in a research paper? For many of our current publications, this would unfortunately be a challenging task. For a computational algorithm, details such as the exact dataset, initialization or termination procedures and precise parameter values are often omitted in the publication for various reasons. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for someone else to obtain the same results. To address the problem, we have started making our research reproducible. Instead of only describing the developed algorithms to ‘sufficient’ precision in an article, we give readers access to all the information (code, data, schemes, etc.) that was used to produce the presented results as first advocated by Knuth and Claerbout. We are convinced that making research reproducible is not only a matter of good practice, but also increases the impact of our publications and makes it easier to build upon each other’s work. It is a clear win-win situation for our community: we will have access to more and more algorithms and can spend time inventing new things rather than recreating existing ones.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
