Creating common virtual ground: Protocols to democratize open VR research
By immersing participants in consistent virtual environments, VR enhances study realism, reduces confounding variables, and improves procedural control, offering a promising solution for scientists interested in studying behavior "in the wild." The availability and documentation of data enabled by VR also help address replicability challenges. Despite vast potential, VR research is hindered by fragmentation, proprietary tools, and a lack of standardized practices, which limit its overall impact. This collaborative study presents an interactive checklist to support VR research from across disciplines to meet three essential protocols-interoperability, procedural standardization, and data sharing-that address these challenges by promoting open science and providing a common, easy-to-evaluate format for researchers to present projects to ethics boards, reviewers, and beyond. Together, these protocols can help VR research overcome replication barriers, democratize access to advanced tools, and establish VR as a robust method for rigorous, replicable scientific inquiry.
Authors
- Abhishek Nagaraj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9049-0522)
- Yanick Xavier Lukic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2576-6569)
- Anand Prema Aschwin Van Zelderen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4082-7614)
- Theo Lynn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9284-7580)
- Chan Hyung Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2145-1754)
- Kirsten L. Cowan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5586-1823)
- Alireza Mortezapour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6356-2244)
- Wouter Vleugels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3698-5177)
- Markus Zank (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5446-8289)
- Allison Bayro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6987-939X)
- Laetitia A. Renier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9686-1686)
- Susan Persky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7768-5744)
- Jochen I. Menges (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8689-409X)
- Lauren Howe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4555-4851)
- Maaike Schellaert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7101-2736)
- Christian Hauser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6349-1391)
- Eleonora Viganò (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1640-2763)
- Salvatore J. Affinito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4037-5339)
- Jakob J. Korbel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3135-5229)
- Stephan Streuber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2474-8385)
- Kristen A. Ferguson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9723-3630)
- Devesh Jain
- Eva Derous (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7874-5836)
- Tilo Hartmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1862-7595)
- Dhruv P. Singh
- Albert Jolink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8823-1748)
- Diego Gómez-Zará (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4609-6293)
- Michael Villano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5212-326X)
- Timothy David Hubbard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6029-7446)
- Tibor Bosse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4233-0406)
- Vivianna Fang He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2591-7838)
- Dejan Draschkow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1354-4835)
- Theodore C. Masters-Waage (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6602-4214)
- Domna Banakou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0974-6971)
- Mary M. Hausfeld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2665-4347)
- Thomas Fritz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1834-6240)
- Sinuo Wu
- Zoe Kinias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2482-856X)
- Moritz Remund
- Anely Bekbergenova
- Diana R. Sanchez
Institutions
- University of Mendoza (AR)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Western University (CA)
- NEOMA Business School (FR)
- University of Salerno (IT)
- United States Office of Personnel Management (US)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Coburg University of Applied Sciences (DE)
- University of Liège (BE)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- SKEMA Business School (FR)
- Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration (CH)
- ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences (CH)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- University of St.Gallen (CH)
- University of Limerick (IE)
- University of South-Eastern Norway (NO)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- National Human Genome Research Institute (US)
- University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (CH)
- Human Media (US)
- Dublin City University (IE)
- University College London (GB)
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- San Francisco State University (US)
- World Economic Forum (CH)
- Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (CH)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Universidad de León (ES)
- University of Lausanne (CH)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2026-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2524991123
- Primary Topic
- Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00