Sharing Materials to Heighten the Impact of Publications

Sharing materials related to publications has potential benefits for both research and practice in special education and related fields. For research, sharing materials such as researcher-created outcome measures and interview protocols increases the transparency of research reports, facilitates replication, enables other researchers to use and adapt the materials efficiently, and ensures that materials are maintained. For practice, sharing research-validated materials such as intervention protocols and fidelity checklists can help reduce the research-to-practice gap by providing practitioners the materials needed to implement research-based practices. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of sharing materials, describe challenges to and provide recommendations for sharing materials, and share our personal experiences and perspectives related to sharing materials.