Transparency in epidemiological analyses of cohort data a case study of the Norwegian mother, father, and child cohort study (MoBa)
The present assessment demonstrates that some reproducible practices are more common than others, with some practices being virtually absent. In line with a broader shift towards open science, we observed an increasing use of reproducible research practices in recent years. Nonetheless, the large amount of analytical flexibility offered by cohorts such as MoBa places additional responsibility on researchers to adopt such practices with urgency, to both ensure the robustness of their findings and earn the confidence of those using them. A particular focus in future efforts should be put on practices that help mitigating bias due to researcher degrees of freedom - namely, preregistration, transparent sharing of analysis scripts, and robustness checks. We demonstrate by example that challenges in implementing reproducible research practices in analysis of secondary cohort data-even including those associated with data sharing-can be meaningfully overcome.
Authors
- Pravesh Parekh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1930-1167)
- Agata Bochyńska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6211-8600)
- Bernt Damian Glaser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6974-571X)
- Adrian Dahl Askelund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2669-5472)
- Viktoria Birkenæs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3194-1535)
- Daniel Quintana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2876-0004)
- Max Korbmacher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8113-2560)
- Tamara Kalandadze (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1061-1131)
- Laurie J. Hannigan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3123-5411)
- Ivana Malovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8390-7617)
- Julien Mayor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9827-5421)
- Ludvig Daae Bjørndal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9773-8287)
- Timo B. Roettger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1400-2739)
Institutions
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Østfold University of Applied Sciences (NO)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Lovisenberg Diakonale Høgskole (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Medical Research Methodology
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-025-02601-6
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.20
Funders
- Høgskulen på Vestlandet
- Kavlifondet
- European Commission
- Norges Forskningsråd
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Helse Sør-Øst RHF
- HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions