Values and Philosophy of Science

"Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits." - Article 27 (Part 1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

Be Kind and Do Good Science

1. Science is not neutral and data does not "speak for itself." 

2. Science has been, and still is, used to harm communities. Researchers have a responsibility to consider the community-level impact of their research findings and work with community members affected as much as possible.

3. We should promote principles of disability justice in our work. 

4. Consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, scientific knowledge must be made freely available. 

5. Researchers have an ethical and professional responsibility to disseminate findings from their research. 

6. Researchers should have academic freedom "to explore all avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression and to publish the results of such work."

7. Researchers have a responsibility to accurately report their research, and report their research in a timely manner.

8. To build trust in science, the public should have access to our funding information and conflicts of interests.

Our Commitment

1. Advocate for public access to the advancements and products from science. Scientific advancements and strategies developed at public institutions and/or using public money (including taxpayer dollars through government or non-profit grants) should be rigorous, publicly accessible, and promote reproducibility. 

2. Increase the accessibility of our published papers and scientific advancements. If you or your library do not have access to one of our papers, and it is not available on this website, please contact us and we will send you a copy. 

3. Disclose our funding information. We will provide an overview of our funders on this website. 

4. Advocate against policies that restrict academic freedom. We take a strong stance against unjust, unfounded political interference restricting teaching and research. 

5. Advocate for a culture of high-quality science. Scientists, in pursuit of career development and security, have largely developed an issue with striving for novelty and statistically significant results. High-quality science does not have to be novel. Therefore, we promote and advocate for a culture of science that encourages high quality without regard for “positive”/significant or “null” findings.

6. Improve our practice of reproducible practices. In aiming to increase transparency and reproducibility, I will work to make my study materials and statistical code publicly available. Data collection and recruitment materials will be publicly available through OSF and linked in individual papers.