Sharing design materials

Sharing research design materials means making all tools and resources used in your study, such as questionnaires, surveys, experimental protocols, codebooks, and stimuli, publicly accessible. Doing so allows others to fully understand, replicate, and build upon your work, strengthening transparency, reproducibility, and cumulative science.

Upload your materials to trusted repositories such as the Open Science Framework (OSF) or Figshare, and include clear documentation, version details, and any required software scripts or dependencies. Where applicable, provide links to analysis code (for example, via GitHub or Zenodo) and ensure your materials carry an open licence, such as Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), to clarify reuse permissions. Researchers can obtain guidance on data and software deposit, as well as advice on Creative Commons licences, by contacting the Library Research Services team.

To maximise usability, ensure your materials are complete, well organised, and include instructions for implementation and replication. Comprehensive documentation allows other researchers to verify your findings, adapt your methods, and integrate your materials into new research contexts.

Increasingly, journals, funding agencies, and national assessment frameworks such as the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) encourage or require the sharing of research materials as part of open research practices. This approach fosters collaboration, accountability, and scientific progress, and signals your commitment to rigorous, transparent, and reproducible science.

No Action (Quant.)

Research materials such as stimuli, survey instruments, or experimental protocols are not shared, and there is no plan to make them available to others.

Moving from No Action to Emerging in Sharing of Research Design & Materials (Quant.)

Begin by learning why sharing materials such as surveys, questionnaires, and experimental tasks helps others understand, replicate, and build upon your work. See the guide on materials sharing for an overview.
Review one of your past or current studies and identify which materials you could share. Create an account on a trusted repository such as the Open Science Framework (OSF), Figshare, or Zenodo. Organise your materials into clear folders and write a simple README file that describes each item and how it can be used. You can use this README template from Cornell University as a model.
Before uploading, check for any copyright or confidentiality issues. When you share your materials, add a clear title, relevant keywords, and an open licence using Creative Commons to specify reuse permissions. Choose a platform that provides a permanent identifier such as a DOI so your materials can be easily found and cited.

Emerging (Quant.)

Some research materials are shared upon request, but sharing is informal and lacks consistent documentation or a clear licence.

Moving from Emerging to Evolving in Sharing of Research Design & Materials (Quant.)

To progress from Emerging to Evolving, begin by uploading your research design materials, such as surveys, experimental protocols, and stimuli, to a trusted repository like the Open Science Framework (OSF), Figshare, or Zenodo. Include materials from both ongoing and past projects that you may have shared informally.
Add a clear README file describing the contents of each file, its purpose, and how others can reuse it. Apply an appropriate Creative Commons licence to specify reuse permissions, and ensure you only upload materials you have the right to share.
Repositories such as OSF, Figshare, and Zenodo automatically assign a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which provides a permanent, citable link that enhances discoverability. Include this DOI in your publications and presentations. Finally, review your journal or funder policies on data and materials sharing to ensure alignment with open science standards such as the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines

Evolving (Quant.)

Research design materials are deposited in trusted online repositories with basic documentation and an open licence. Efforts are made to organise and describe the materials clearly so that others can understand and reuse them.

Moving from Evolving to Sustained in Sharing of Research Design & Materials (Quant.)

To move from Evolving to Sustained, focus on making your materials fully reusable, well-documented, and easy to cite. Begin by expanding your README file to include detailed descriptions, version history, and links to related publications so that others can easily understand the purpose and use of each file.
Convert your materials into open, standard file formats such as CSV, TXT, or PDF to ensure long-term accessibility. Upload each version to a trusted repository like Zenodo or Figshare and ensure that your materials are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for permanent citation.
If your project involves complex tasks, code, or data workflows, provide example scripts or walkthroughs and share them through collaborative platforms like GitHub to support reproducibility and adaptation. Apply a clear Creative Commons licence to specify reuse permissions and protect intellectual ownership.
Actively reference your shared materials and DOIs in publications, presentations, and online profiles. Track engagement using metrics available on Zenodo, OSF, or OpenAIRE to monitor downloads, citations, and reuse. Finally, consider contributing your materials to community or discipline-specific libraries, such as the PsyToolkit task library or Ecology, OpenNeuro, to enhance their visibility, facilitate reuse, and strengthen the collective resources of your research community.

Sustained (Quant.)

Research design materials are systematically shared through trusted repositories as a standard part of the research process. They include comprehensive documentation, version control, and clear open licensing. Materials are curated for long-term access, fully described to support independent reuse, and regularly updated to reflect methodological improvements or new project iterations.

Guidance for Sustained Level in Sharing of Research Design & Materials (Quant.)

Congratulations. You are operating beyond good practice and contributing as a field leader by creating highly reusable materials, shaping open science norms, increasing your research impact, and mentoring the next generation of open researchers. To maintain and further improve at this level, consider the following:

Strengthen your leadership by adding machine-readable metadata using recognised standards such as the DataCite Metadata Schema to make your materials easier to find, index, and reuse. Integrate materials sharing into your project planning and teaching so that every team member documents and prepares materials for sharing from the start. You can draw on resources such as the Center for Open Science’s Open Science Curriculum.
Take your practice further by publishing dedicated materials papers in journals such as Biodiversity Data Journal, Scientific Data, Journal of Open Psychology Data or Data in Brief, which provide recognition and citation credit for shared resources. Advocate for stronger materials-sharing policies within your institution and among funders by referencing the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines.
Finally, apply persistent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to every version of your materials and maintain a detailed changelog. Contribute your work to community libraries (e.g., Ecology, OpenNeuro, PsyToolkit Task Library) to maximise visibility, foster collaboration, and demonstrate leadership in advancing open and reusable science.