The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, Vol. 25(1) – Can graphics promote informed choice in scratch card gambling?

This week, The WAGER reviews a study by Alexander C. Walker and colleagues that investigated how varying the presentation format of statistical information influences scratch card gambling-related judgements. Read more →

Open Science Practices to Support Addiction Research

Editor’s note: This op-ed was written by David Mellor, PhD, of the Center for Open Science, as part of this month’s Special Series on Open Science Practices in addiction research. Being able to replicate a colleague’s reported empirical observations is a central premise of how scientific discoveries are expected to be disseminated. This ideal has been central to the expectations of scientific processes for centuries and separates credible findings from incredible observations. The motto of the Royal Society, “Nullius in verba” or “On the word of no one,” exemplifies this ideal by specifying that demonstrating a finding is more important... Read more →

STASH, Vol. 16(1) - Patient-centered care in substance addiction research - How far have we come and where are we going?

Today’s review is part of our month-long Special Series on Open Science Practices in addiction research. During this special series, The BASIS features recent publications that have used contemporary open science practices. Recently, patient centered care (PCC) has been gaining momentum as a treatment strategy. Simply put, PCC aims to prioritize each patient's unique needs by fostering patient-physician communication and shared decision making. This flexible method of care might be especially important in a complex disease such as addiction with its diverse array of expressions. However, different researchers have used different definitions of PCC and we know little about how... Read more →

ASHES, Vol. 16(1) - The effectiveness of graphic images on tobacco health warning labels in changing smoking attitudes and behaviors

Today’s review is part of our month-long special series, Open Science Practices in Addiction Research. During this special series, The BASIS features recent publications that have used contemporary open science practices. Text-only health warnings have appeared on cigarettes for over 35 years in the United States. Despite these warnings, smoking still causes over 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. To reduce smoking and its associated health impacts, the United States Food and Drug Association recently proposed the inclusion of 13 different graphic warning images with accompanying text that depict some of the negative health consequences of smoking on... Read more →

Can the Open Science Revolution Revolutionise Gambling Research?

Editor’s Note: This editorial was written by Drs. Robert Heirene & Sally Gainsbury as part of our Special Series on Open Science Practices. The crisis Over the last 8-10 years there has been a sharp increase in meta-research––that is, research of research; studies of studies. These studies have highlighted a host of poor practices used by scientists when conducting and reporting their research, including P-hacking, (S)HARKing, biased publication decisions, selective outcome reporting, and the use of small, under-powered sample sizes (see Box 1). These practices pose serious concerns for our confidence in the scientific enterprise and are thought to be... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 16(1) - How do self-affirmation and graphic health warnings on beer cans influence beliefs about drinking?

Today’s review is part of our month-long special series, Open Science Practices in Addiction Research. During this special series, The BASIS features recent publications that have used contemporary open science practices. Despite large-scale public health campaigns, diseases related to alcohol are still leading causes of death in the US. One approach to harm reduction that has not yet been implemented here are graphic pictorial health warnings on alcohol containers, similar to those used on cigarette packs in the EU. Although these types of warnings are perceived to be effective, they also can elicit defensive coping mechanisms, such as avoiding looking... Read more →

Introduction to The BASIS Special Series on Open Science Practices

During January 1996, the Division on Addiction created The WAGER, which was the precursor to The BASIS. We created The WAGER because academic research, including addiction research, often is locked behind paywalls. This history suggests that The WAGER was an early open science initiative. We have carried this support for open science forward into our work for The BASIS. The BASIS’s mission is to minimize addiction’s harmful effects by providing the general public, treatment providers, policy makers and others with access to addiction research. Today, interest in open science is growing, in part due to the replication crisis first observed... Read more →