“Knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch that illuminates the world,” Louis Pasteur famously said, but the reality of modern research is that it often stays in the dark.

Science should be an open and transparent process, particularly in an age where sharing almost anything has become simple and efficient, and some local experts have launched a program to better illuminate new knowledge.

The Peer Reviewers’ Openness Initiative (PRO) seeks to encourage scientists to share their data, analysis scripts and materials freely with their peers.

Its proponents want to incentivise the sharing of data through the collective action of peer reviewers.

Under the PRO, peer reviewers who have signed the declaration will only review authors who have shared their content, or provided an acceptable reason for restricting access to their work.

Daniel Newman from the Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences says modern tools and technology make sharing simple.

“It can feel like a burden at first, but there are many online tools to help with open science. Once I became familiar with these practices, these skills are simple to implement as a usual part of my analysis pipeline,” Mr Newman said.

“I’m excited to get on board with this open science movement as much as possible early in my career. My most recently submitted paper will be fully accessible, including all related raw data, analysis scripts and paradigm code open source, so my results are reproducible.” he added.

Dr Richard Morey of Cardiff University says the key to enacting genuine change in current sharing practices is the collective action of reviewers.

“Although many researchers are excited about creating a more open scientific culture, evaluation of openness has not traditionally been part of the peer-review process,” Dr Morey said.

“The Initiative is all about telling reviewers; ‘Yes, we can do this’.”

Reviewers who agree are encouraged to add their names to the PRO website.

“The signatures are an important part of the Initiative, so that reviewers know they aren’t acting alone.”

Dr Morey and Mr Newman say they have been greatly pleased with the scientific community’s enthusiastic response to the PRO initiative, which has already received over 200 peer reviewer signatures.