TOP Guidelines

Published in Science in 2015 (OA), the Transparency and Openness Promotion Guidelines (PDF and HTML) include eight modular standards, each with three levels of increasing stringency. Journals select which of the eight transparency standards they wish to implement and select a level of implementation for each. These features provide flexibility for adoption depending on disciplinary variation, but simultaneously establish community standards.

The TOP Guidelines were created by journals, funders, and societies to align scientific ideals with practices. TOP provides a suite of tools to guide the implementation of better, more transparent research.