Open Science Awards of the RUB Faculty of Psychology
Objective
The Open Science Initiative of the Faculty of Psychology aims to promote and recognize Open Science practice by granting two Open Science Awards. The awards are intended to recognize the work of students and early career researchers (PhD students and postdocs at all levels) at the Faculty of Psychology who actively implement principles and practices of Open Science. By celebrating exceptional student and early career researcher projects, we hope to inspire the next generation of researchers to adopt Open Science principles and contribute to the ongoing transformation of scientific practices.
We will grant awards to projects at the student, and PhD student, and postdoc levels (see Eligibility). The evaluation will consider the career stage of each level.
Eligibility
Eligible authors must have completed a thesis or article (including submitted and in-press manuscripts) and must be enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD program or must currently work as a Postdoc in the Faculty of Psychology. The project must have been completed within the last academic year. Each project can only be submitted once. Topics are not pre-specified.
Criteria for the Awards
The submissions will be evaluated by an awards committee comprised of faculty members and members of the Open Science Initiative of the Faculty of Psychology.
Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Transparency: The extent to which pre-registered or open protocols were implemented to document hypotheses and research plans will be evaluated. Any deviations from pre-registrations should be explained.
- Open Data and Materials: Availability of published datasets and research materials, such as code, in a recognized Open Science repository (e.g., OSF) or via a research data center will be evaluated. Particular attention will be given to the appropriate use of open licenses and the responsible handling of personal data. Significant efforts to anonymize data (e.g., binning) will be recognized.
- Open Access: For submitted or published papers, open-access publications or preprints that make results publicly available will be recognized.
- Reproducibility: Efforts to ensure that the research can be easily and independently reproduced by others will be evaluated, including clear and comprehensive documentation of methods and analysis workflows, as well as clear annotation of the code/codebook. Clear documentation in case of deviations from pre-registration will be considered.
Please note that it is not necessary to meet every single criterion to be considered for the awards, as the final decision will also depend on the overall pool of submissions. The individual conditions of specific projects can be taken into account if the reasons for not implementing certain Open Science practices are well justified (e.g., data is embargoed for an unpublished project) and award evaluation is supported (e.g., the Open Science awards committee is granted access to embargoed data through a password-protected Sciebo folder).
How to Apply
To apply, please submit the following materials in the Open Science Moodle course by 30.09.2026:
- A copy of your final project (e.g., one manuscript, one article, or a thesis).
- A max. two-page cover letter explaining 1) why your work should be chosen for the Open Science awards, 2) any efforts to facilitate the (re)use of open data, materials, and analysis code (e.g., by describing (meta)data in codebook), 3) handling of personal data and any efforts to anonymize the data (e.g., through binning), 4) ensurance of reproducibility (e.g., through clear and comprehensive documentation of methods and analysis workflows). Overall, the letter should reflect on which open science practices were (or were not) applied and provide an overview of links to relevant materials (e.g., pre-registrations, data, code).
- Please also complete the short registration questionnaire in the Open Science Moodle course to indicate which Open Science practices have been implemented in your work.
Award
Recipients will receive award certificates and prizes.
For Bachelor's/Master's students, the prize will be awarded as one of the following:
- A tablet or similar device useful for studying (worth approximately 200 Euro), or
- A 200 Euro voucher for travel to a conference, workshop, summer school, etc., or
- A 200 Euro voucher for the Unistore.
PhD and postdoc faculty employees may use the prize money of 500 euros for any research-related purpose (e.g., conference travel, workshop participation, or participant reimbursement). The prize will be paid out via the associated chair.
Questions?
Please direct any inquiries to the Open Science Initiative via psy-open-science@rub.de. Subject: Open Science Award.