Openness and reproducibility are not in themselves a guarantee of quality. They are, however, a necessary precondition in order to demonstrate quality. They are also necessary in order to facilitate internal and external cooperation so that results can be further improved and follow-up steps can be taken.
In an open collaboration culture, every scientist can and may give feedback or contribute improvements: the scientific community and the scientific objectives are central. Personal credits arise as a result of contribution to the system, and by opening up data, methods and/or research results.
In a forward-looking scientific practice, the scientific community has insight and control over all aspects of the research chain. Thus, methods are open and maximally owned by the community, which thus achieves a high degree of independence.
Transparency and sharing are evidences for a public body like INBO. By pursuing Open Science goals, we consistently apply this principle in our research practice and are progressive in our approach.