This high-profile recognition from the UK-based Sense About Science charity and the journal Nature couldn’t be more well deserved. Her world-class research routinely intersects with pressing matters of science policy implementation, research ethics, and research reproducibility.
As a uOttawa Faculty of Medicine associate professor and director of the Metaresearch and Open Science Program at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Dr. Cobey has been instrumental in advancing knowledge of “predatory journals” and revealing how these sham outlets boost misinformation and erode public trust in science.
She’s also been a leader in advocating for “open science,” a growing movement to transform the dissemination of scientific research by making it widely accessible to the global research community, patients, and the general public.
The award panel said Dr. Cobey “tackles deep and thorny issues and proactively provides scientists with tools to assist and encourage them in adopting open science practices.” The judges described this as “revolutionary work.”
On behalf of her team, Dr. Cobey says she is “incredibly honoured” to win the coveted John Maddox recognition, awarded annually since 2012. Nominations come from across the globe. She received her prize at a Nov. 6 ceremony in London, England.
“This award acknowledges current and past efforts my team in the Metareseach and Open Science Program has made to help promote research that is transparently designed, conducted, and reported. This external acknowledgment encourages us to keep working to drive improvements in the research ecosystem in Canada and beyond,” she says.
Dr. Cobey notes that since research in Canada is largely publicly funded, she sees access to research outputs as fundamental to ensure research transparency.
“For example, right now patients frequently participate in health research studies such as clinical trials but never have access to the results of those studies. In my view, as health researchers we are custodians of patient and public data. We need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to manage study data and report results in a way that is as transparent as possible,” Dr. Cobey says.
Not only will this allow people to know what a medical study’s findings are, but it also reduces bias in the academic literature and cuts down on the unnecessary duplication of research, according to Dr. Cobey.
“As researchers, we have an onus to build and maintain public trust in science,” she says. “Being transparent in all that we do helps to foster that trust and can act to reduce misinformation.”
Dr. Cobey also serves as co-chair of DORA (Declaration on Research Assessment), an organization dedicated to reforming research assessment to better align incentives with mission driven goals.
“Right now, a lot of institutions and funders value how much research a researcher is producing more than the quality of the work they are producing. We want to create incentives that support researchers to be thoughtful in the design, conduct, and reporting of research even if this means we do less research.”