In November 2025, Cinzia Colombo from the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri represented the OSIRIS community at the 7th annual conference of the Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-research & Open Science (AIMOS), held from 19 to 21 November at the University of Sydney, Australia. The event was organized in partnership with the Evidence, Policy, and Influence Collaborative (EPIC) at the Charles Perkins Centre and brought together researchers and practitioners working on research integrity, transparency, and reproducibility.

The conference programme included keynote lectures, panel discussions, and workshops focused on meta-research, open science, and the commercial determinants of health. Central topics addressed include research reproducibility, research integrity, and the structural challenges affecting scientific practice. Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, presented data on the increasing number of article retractions and discussed the issues at stake. He emphasized the importance of continuing to raise awareness and sustain dialogue, particularly at a time when scientific research is increasingly under pressure.

Several sessions explored different aspects of reproducibility, including systematic reviews and computational research. Phi-Yen Nguyen (Methods in Evidence Synthesis Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne) presented a study on the reproducibility of meta-analytic results in systematic reviews. Among 121 selected reviews, most meta-analyses (n = 104; 86%) were fully reproducible, while some were not fully reproducible (n = 7; 6%) or lacked sufficient data to allow reproducibility (n = 10; 8%). Commercial influence on research was a recurring theme throughout the programme. In the opening plenary, Lisa Bero, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Colorado, examined the “cycle of bias” and how corporate or industry sponsorship can influence study design, analysis, and reporting, often leading to systematic over- or underestimation of findings in favour of sponsors’ products.

Lack of transparency in industry funding and barriers to accessing data on industry support for patient groups were discussed by Ashleigh Hooimeyer and Keilla Chiu (School of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney). Conflicts of interest were addressed in a dedicated workshop led by Barbara Mintzes (University of Sydney), which focused on practical approaches to identifying and managing potential biases in pharmaceutical and health research.

Overall, the AIMOS 2025 conference highlighted that reproducibility extends beyond technical methodology. By connecting reproducibility with broader questions of research integrity, commercial influence, transparency, and conflicts of interest, the event underscored key challenges facing contemporary science.

Through Cinzia Colombo’s participation, OSIRIS continues to engage with international initiatives that promote open, transparent, and reliable research practices and strengthen trust in scientific evidence.

Stay tuned for updates on other OSIRIS activities! Visit our website to read our blogs and events section and follow us on social media to discover what’s new and how you can get involved!

OSIRIS “Creating Trust in Open Science & Reproducibility through Accessibility and Transparency!”