Cross-Cutting Improvements: Pioneering Structured Outcome Reporting as a New Model of Scientific Communication

The goal of this effort is to achieve lifecycle open science: connecting registered research plans, outputs (data, materials, and code), and outcomes following FAIR principles to open the entire lifecycle of research for evaluation, verification, and reuse. The approach reduces burden for researchers by unifying their tools into a seamless, connected workflow while improving metadata quality—applying sociotechnical strategies to advance FAIR, open science. By providing structured guidance at the moment of analysis, the project allows researchers to connect outputs and document outcomes in real-time. These workflows will reduce the burden of reporting outcomes and provide structured guidance to provide metadata that enhances FAIRness. Moreover, that structured workflow will guide researchers’ reporting of outcomes in comparison with their registered plans which will both ease burden and provide active support for the stage between data analysis and paper authoring. The project shifts the focus to prospective open science. By providing structured guidance at the moment of analysis, we allow researchers to connect outputs and document outcomes in real-time. These workflows will reduce the burden of reporting outcomes and provide structured guidance to provide metadata that enhances FAIRness. Moreover, that structured workflow will guide researchers’ reporting of outcomes in comparison with their registered plans which will both ease burden and provide active support for the stage between data analysis and paper authoring. This intervention occurs at the most critical phase of the research lifecycle—the point where negative and null results are most likely to be abandoned in the "file drawer." With just-in-time documentation, researchers ensure their work is preserved for reuse, even if it is never formally published. This approach addresses publication bias at its source and significantly enhances the long-term utility of NSF research investments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.