Are we ready for open science? A questionnaire on open science practices of authors in randomized controlled trials in pediatric dentistry

• Grant number: 25/08305-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Pediatric Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Prócida Raggio
• Grantee: Gabriely Priscila Mesquita Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Researchers face challenges in the academic culture when improving clinical trials via open science, due to resource limitations, legal and ethical issues. Ourobjective is to assess the perception of open science and identify obstacles toimplementation. We will search PubMed for clinical trials in pediatric dentistry from the last 5 years to identify authors. Using the standard methodology for calculating the sample size, at least 355 emails from correspondingauthors are required to achieve the desired precision. These 355 emails will beaccumulated by randomly screening articles, removing duplicates and contactingauthors in the order of a random list. Independent reviewers will examine thetitle and abstract to retrieve emails. We will include any corresponding authorfor randomized controlled trials in paediatric dentistry. Any invalid email addresswill be deleted. The 6-part questionnaire will explore the perception of researchersabout open science. We will carry out descriptive statistics and exploratory analysis withmodels to associate perception of open science, demographic characteristics andcareer. We will investigate whether the association with demographic characteristics is mediated by career characteristics. We anticipate that the results will highlight the main obstacles in implementing open science practices, based on the perceptions ofresearchers and the associations between demographic and career characteristics and the adoption of these practices. In addition, we hope to identify howcareer characteristics can mediate the relationship between researchers' perceptions and the implementation of open science in clinical studies in pediatric dentistry. (AU)