Scientific progress depends on the ability to verify, repeat, and build upon previous research. Yet as research becomes increasingly data-intensive, computational, and AI-driven, ensuring that results can be reproduced remains a significant challenge. 

To help address this challenge, the Horizon Europe project REWIRE (Reproducibility Enablement for Widespread Implementation, Reuse and Evidence in the European Research Area) brings together 12 organisations from across Europe to support the wider adoption of reproducible research practices and strengthen trust in research outcomes. Coordinated by Athena Research Center, REWIRE aims to help make reproducibility a standard part of the research process rather than an additional burden for researchers. 

Why reproducibility matters

Researchers increasingly rely on complex software, workflows, datasets, computational environments, and AI-driven methods to generate scientific results. While Open Science has significantly improved access to publications and research data, reproducing published findings often remains difficult because essential information about how research was conducted is not always documented, preserved, or shared in a systematic way. 

Improving reproducibility helps strengthen confidence in research, supports the reuse of scientific knowledge, and maximises the value of public investment in research and innovation. It also enables researchers, institutions, funders, and publishers to better assess, validate, and build upon existing work. 

REWIRE seeks to address these challenges by working with researchers, research-performing organisations, funders, publishers, and research infrastructures across Europe. Through a series of pilot implementations and community-driven activities, the project will identify practical and scalable approaches for embedding reproducibility throughout the research lifecycle. 

From awareness to implementation 

Rather than developing entirely new tools, REWIRE focuses on helping organisations adopt and integrate existing, proven approaches that support reproducible research. 

The project will work across the stages of planning, conducting, and publishing research, helping organisations document research processes more effectively, preserve research workflows and computational environments, and improve the transparency and reusability of research outputs. REWIRE will also generate practical guidance, implementation pathways, training resources, and evidence-based recommendations that can support broader uptake across the European Research Area. 

The project will validate its approach through pilot implementations in diverse research domains, including biodiversity, life sciences, robotics, biomedical artificial intelligence, publishing, and information technology. These pilots will provide real-world experience and evidence on how reproducibility practices can be successfully adopted in different organisational and disciplinary contexts. 

Reproducibility cannot remain an aspiration we add at the end of research. It has to be built into the way research is planned, carried out, shared and assessed. With REWIRE, we are working with communities across Europe to make that shift practical: giving researchers, institutions, funders and infrastructures the tools, guidance and support they need to make reproducible research part of everyday practice.

OpenAIRE’s contribution 

OpenAIRE is a core partner in REWIRE, bringing expertise in Open Science infrastructures, research information services, training, community engagement and European coordination. 

Within the project, OpenAIRE will coordinate the pilot rollout across eight organisations in Europe, supporting them as they test and apply REWIRE’s approaches to reproducibility in real research settings. The experience and lessons gained through these pilots will be translated into practical guidance for other organisations looking to strengthen reproducibility in their own workflows. OpenAIRE will also connect REWIRE with relevant European initiatives and lead the project’s communication activities, ensuring clear messaging and strong visibility across Europe. 

A further contribution is ARGOS, OpenAIRE’s platform for planning and managing research outputs. In REWIRE, ARGOS will support Reproducibility Management Plans, enabling researchers to record key information on data, code, software, workflows, and computational environments from the beginning of a project. Through its direct link with EOSC services and the OpenAIRE Graph, this information can become part of a wider, interconnected infrastructure for tracking and supporting reproducible research. 

OpenAIRE’s role also extends to training and community engagement. Through OpenPlato and its network of National Open Access Desks, OpenAIRE will engage research communities, support capacity building and help drive the uptake of REWIRE’s results across Europe. 

Building skills, communities, and sustainable change 

REWIRE recognises that reproducibility is not only a technical challenge. Sustainable adoption also requires skills development, institutional support, incentives, and active communities. 

Over the course of the project, partners will develop training programmes, practical guidance, implementation blueprints, and community-building activities designed to support researchers and organisations at different stages of maturity. By creating opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaboration, REWIRE aims to foster a European community of practice around reproducible research. 

Looking ahead 

The REWIRE consortium will officially meet for its kick-off meeting in Athens on 17–18 September 2026, where project partners will establish the foundations for collaboration, align priorities, and launch the first project activities. 

Over the next three years, REWIRE will generate evidence, guidance, training resources, and implementation pathways that support the wider adoption of reproducible research practices across Europe. By helping researchers and institutions make research outputs more transparent, reliable, and reusable, the project will contribute to a stronger and more trustworthy European research ecosystem.