The landscape of open science in behavioral addiction research: Current practices and future directions

Charlotte Eben; Beáta Bőthe; Damien Brevers; Luke Clark; Joshua B Grubbs; Robert Heirene; Anja Kräplin; Karol Lewczuk; Lucas Palmer; José C Perales; Jan Peters; Ruth J van Holst; Joël Billieux

doi:10.1556/2006.2023.00052

The landscape of open science in behavioral addiction research: Current practices and future directions

J Behav Addict. 2023 Oct 5;12(4):862-870. doi: 10.1556/2006.2023.00052. Print 2023 Dec 22.

Authors

Charlotte Eben¹, Beáta Bőthe², Damien Brevers³, Luke Clark^{4

5}, Joshua B Grubbs^{6

7}, Robert Heirene⁸, Anja Kräplin⁹, Karol Lewczuk¹⁰, Lucas Palmer⁴, José C Perales¹¹, Jan Peters¹², Ruth J van Holst^{13

14}, Joël Billieux^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent Belgium.
² 2Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
³ 3Louvain for Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP), Psychological Sciences Research Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁴ 4Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
⁵ 5Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
⁶ 6Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁷ 7Center for Alcohol, Substance Use, And Addiction (CASAA), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁸ 8School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
⁹ 9Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
¹⁰ 10Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
¹¹ 11Department of Experimental Psychology; Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
¹² 12Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹³ 13Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC -University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ 14Center for Urban Mental Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ 15Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
¹⁶ 16Center for Excessive Gambling, Addiction Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Open science refers to a set of practices that aim to make scientific research more transparent, accessible, and reproducible, including pre-registration of study protocols, sharing of data and materials, the use of transparent research methods, and open access publishing. In this commentary, we describe and evaluate the current state of open science practices in behavioral addiction research. We highlight the specific value of open science practices for the field; discuss recent field-specific meta-scientific reviews that show the adoption of such practices remains in its infancy; address the challenges to engaging with open science; and make recommendations for how researchers, journals, and scientific institutions can work to overcome these challenges and promote high-quality, transparently reported behavioral addiction research. By collaboratively promoting open science practices, the field can create a more sustainable and productive research environment that benefits both the scientific community and society as a whole.

Keywords: behavioral addiction; gambling; gaming; open science; reproducibility.

Publication types

Review