Considerations for Open Practices in Quantum Technologies Research: A reflection on current research practices and aims for the future

The field of quantum technologies is a fast-paced research environment where new developments are constantly being reported. However, recent controversies -- such as the retraction of a 2018 Nature article claiming to find evidence of the elusive Majorana fermion -- have made me reflect on the research practices of my field and my own practice. When conducting future research, I plan to engage in a variety of open research practices to ensure the reproducibility and transparency of my work, thereby encouraging others in my field to engage with my data, build on it and critically engage with my conclusions.

Regarding my current research, which is due to be published soon, I aim to implement several practices to ensure my data is freely accessible and to facilitate reproducibility and scrutiny of my studies. This will be achieved by publishing under an open licence as well as depositing datasets and code on an open repository such as Zenodo. In future studies, I would like to explore producing a Registered Report alongside publishing an open online lab notebook through my own personal website. This will improve the transparency of my research throughout the entire process, not just at the time of publication.

Additionally, I aim to engage with the open datasets of others in my field to help foster a culture of shared datasets that different groups will analyse in different ways, extracting more information from results as well as improving the reliability of our knowledge through collaboration. To assess the efficacy of these ideas for open research practices in the field of quantum technologies, I would benefit from reflections on how successful such practices are in other areas, particularly that of analysing the open data of others within the context of my own research topic.