Open Science (a movement to make all phases of scientific research transparent and accessible to the public) has made great strides in the past decade, but those come with new ethical concerns that the COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted. Open science promotes transparency in data and analysis and has been demonstrated to improve the quality and quantity of scientific research in participating institutions. These principles are never more valuable than in the midst of a global crisis such as the COVID pandemic, where quality information is needed so researchers can quickly and effectively build upon one another's work. It is also vital for the public and decision makers who need to make important calls about public health. However, misinformation can have a serious material cost in human lives that grows exponentially if not addressed properly. Preprints, lack of data sharing, and rushed peer review have led to confusion for both experts and the lay public alike.

We are a global collaboration that has looked at COVID19 research and potential misuses of basic transparency research principles. Our findings are available as a preprint and all our data is available online. To sum up, our findings are that:

• Preprints (non peer-reviewed manuscripts) on COVID19 have been mentioned in the news approximately 10 times more than preprints on other topics published during the same period.

• Approximately 700 articles have been accepted for publication in less than 24 hours, among which 224 were detailing new research results. Out of these 224 papers, 31% had editorial conflicts of interest (i.e., the authors of the papers were also part of the editorial team of the journal).

• There has been a large amount of duplicated research projects probably leading to potential scientific waste.

• There have been numerous methodologically flawed studies which could have been avoided if research protocols were transparently shared and reviewed before the start of a clinical trial.

• Finally, the lack of data sharing and code sharing led to the now famous The Lancet scandal on Surgisphere

We hope that we can all shed some light on our findings and answer your questions. So there you go, ask us anything. We are looking forward to discussing these issues and potential solutions with you all.

Our guests will be answering under the account u/Cov19ResearchIssues, but they are all active redditors and members of the r/science community.

This is a global collaboration and our guests will start answering questions no later than 1p US Eastern!

Bios:

Lonni Besançon (u/lonnib): I am a postdoctoral fellow at Monash University, Australia. I received my Ph.D. in computer science at University Paris Saclay, France. I am particularly interested in interactive visualization techniques for 3D spatial data relying on new input paradigms and his recent work focuses on the visualization and understanding of uncertainty in empirical results in computer science. My Twitter.

Clémence Leyrat (u/Clem_stat): I am an Assistant Professor in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Most of my research is on causal inference. I am investigating how to improve the methodology of randomised trials, and when trials are not feasible, how to develop and apply tools to estimate causal effects from observational studies. In medical research (and in all other fields), open science is key to gain (or get back?) the trust and support of the public, while ensuring the quality of the research done. My Twitter

Corentin Segalas (u/crsgls): I have a a PhD in biostatistics and am now a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on statistical methodology. I am mainly working on health and medical applications and deeply interested in the way open science can improve my work.

Edit: Thanks to all the kind internet strangers for the virtual awards. Means a lot for our virtual selves and their virtual happiness! :)

Edit 2: It's past 1am for us here and we're probably get a good sleep before answering the rest of your questions tomorrow! Please keep adding them here, we promise to take a look at all of them whenever we wake up :).

°°Edit 3:** We're back online!