Research Cycle Handbook

What is this handbook?

This open research cycle handbook provides detailed practical guidance for making research open, responsible, and reproducible by design. It covers the full research life cycle, from formulating questions and preregistering studies to publishing articles, data, and code. It links to our self-paced tutorials, LMU support services, and essential tools to support open research in everyday practice.

Who is it for?

This manual can be used by individual researchers in any scientific field but is primarily designed to be adapted and adopted by research groups as a whole. Each section outlines concrete actions for ongoing projects and concludes with a team checkpoint.

Navigate our open research cycle handbook
4. Preserve & Share3. Analyze & Collaborate2. Collect & Manage1. Plan & Design
How to build your own lab handbook?
Based on our material, it is easy to build a tailored research practice handbook for your own research group (see example):
  • review the core discipline-agnostic sections by clicking on one of the quadrants in the figure above,
  • consult discipline-specific guidance (in development - ETA end 2026),
  • tailor the overview checklist figure ,
  • use our lab-handbook template as a starting place (in development - ETA end 2026)
    • You can request a consultation with the LMU Open Science Center: ranging from a 1h one-on-one consultation up to a 6-month training and consultation program for your entire research group (see About this Project below).
About this project

This work is part of the “Switch-to-Open Program” (SwOP) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

This program consists of a 6-month structured development program for research groups, centered on the co-creation of a tailored research practices lab handbook and culminating in a departmental seminar to facilitate adoption by other groups.

This program is designed to:

  • improve workflow efficiency and reproducibility by establishing clear, standardized procedures and documentation
  • facilitate onboarding and collaboration through a shared, practice-oriented lab handbook
  • support compliance with FAIR and Open Science requirements (see e.g. LMU good research practice guidelines ) and enable researchers to meet evolving recruitment and funding expectations
Interested in entering the Switch-to-Open Program (SwOP) with your research group?
Contact us
How to cite our handbook

Our handbook and other material are licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. Please feel free to reuse, adapt, and share openly by citing
Ihle Malika, Gupta Reema, Schönbrodt Felix, April 2026, Open Research Cycle Handbook https://lmu-osc.github.io/training/research-cycle-handbook.html CC-BY-SA 4.0 LMU Open Science Center

Acknowledgements

The following people contributed to the writing and revisions of this handbook: Alberto Villagran Asiares, Anja Betz, Pat Callahan, Sara Lil Middleton, Sarah Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn.