Charlottesville, VA — The Center for Open Science (COS) has announced the launch of the Replicability Project: Health Behavior (RPHB), a collaborative initiative that aims to strengthen the evidence base and advance scientific integrity in health-related research. The project will examine the replicability of a diverse sample of quantitative health studies published over the past decade (2015–2024).
Assessing the credibility of research is essential to advancing scientific integrity and maintaining public trust in science. The RPHB initiative aims to perform up to 60+ replications of empirical health behavior studies, providing crucial evidence about the reliability of findings that impact public health decisions and interventions.
"Replication is a cornerstone of scientific advancement, particularly in health research where findings directly influence public well-being and policy decisions," said Tim Errington, Senior Director of Research at COS. "This project creates an opportunity for researchers to collectively strengthen the foundation of health science while fostering a culture of transparency and rigor that benefits the entire research ecosystem.”
The RPHB effort will assess studies published in six influential journals: Journal of Health Communication, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Public Health, Applied Research in Quality of Life, American Journal of Health Promotion, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
The project builds upon COS's previous replication efforts (Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence, Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, and Reproducibility Project: Psychology), which have generated extensive datasets of claims and evidence about research credibility.
The RPHB invites researchers to participate in two ways:
- Conducting replications of original studies by investigating the same empirical claims using new or independent secondary data
- Serving as peer reviewers or editors for replication protocols to ensure methodological rigor and transparency
All replication studies will utilize the Open Science Framework (OSF) throughout their lifecycle, with preregistration, open sharing of materials and data, and transparent reporting of outcomes.
Researchers interested in participating—either as replicators or peer reviewers—can express their interest immediately. All replications must be completed by January 31, 2026. The project provides resources and potential funding for qualified replication teams.
For more information about the Replicability Project: Health Behavior, visit www.cos.io/rphb.
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About COS
Founded in 2013, COS is a nonprofit culture change organization with a mission to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research. COS pursues this mission by building communities around open science practices, supporting metascience research, and developing and maintaining free, open source software tools, including the Open Science Framework (OSF).
Media Contact: pr@cos.io