Collaborative projects

SORTEE hackathons and projects - what are they?

SORTEE hackathons are 1-2 hour virtual events held during annual SORTEE conferences. They usually facilitate group projects with well-defined goals, such as implementing advocacy actions, conceptualising or drafting documents, testing methods or software, etc. The list below presents descriptions of selected examples of past hackathons and related projects. If you would like to learn more, please contact the respective project leads (names provided below).

Selected past SORTEE hackathons, and related past and ongoing collaborative projects:

2021

Short Title: Registered Reports Now

Led by: Patrice Pottier, Shinichi Nakagawa, Cooper Smout

Type: Advocacy; Year Started: 2021; Status: finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to promote the implementation of registered reports in ecology and evolutionary biology, a publication format that enhances research transparency but remains underutilized. Participants learned about registered reports, discussed barriers to their adoption, and collectively emailed journal editors requesting their implementation. A prepared list of journals and email templates facilitated this process, maximizing outreach efforts.

Skills Required: This hackathon was open to everyone—no specific skills were required to participate.

Additional Work & Outcomes: There were no mandatory tasks following the hackathon, but participants were encouraged to follow up with journal editors if they did not receive a response. The list of journals was made publicly available for further outreach. While no publishable content was expected, the event aimed to drive real-world change by promoting registered reports in academic publishing.

Outputs: database of contacted journals. One journal (i.e., Ethology) adopted Registered Reports in response to this hackathon.

Short Title: Promoting GitHub Use in EcoEvo

Led by: Robert Crystal-Ornelas, Katherine Hébert, Emma Hudgins, Pedro Henrique Pereira Braga, Luna L. Sanchez-Reyes, Ciera Martinez

Type: Education & Collaboration; Year Started: 2021; Status: Finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to identify, discuss, and propose innovative uses of GitHub in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology for career support, open science, education, and outreach. Participants explored various ways ecologists and evolutionary biologists use GitHub, including visualizing data, career support, research documentation, and programming assistance. Breakout groups discussed challenges, advantages, and specific use cases, followed by a collaborative manuscript-writing session to synthesize key insights.

Skills Required: Basic knowledge of GitHub was helpful but not required. Anyone collaborating on documents, websites, manuscripts, or interested in data and code-sharing policies in Ecology and Evolution could contribute.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Two months after the hackathon, session organizers wrote a blog post summarizing the discussions. A manuscript was developed through remote collaboration via monthly meetings, Slack discussions, and GitHub-based writing.

Outputs: A blog post and a peer-reviewed manuscript - Braga, P. H. P., Hébert, K., Hudgins, E. J., Scott, E. R., Edwards, B. P. M., Sánchez Reyes, L. L., Grainger, M. J., Foroughirad, V., Hillemann, F., Binley, A. D., Brookson, C. B., Gaynor, K. M., Shafiei Sabet, S., Güncan, A., Weierbach, H., Gomes, D. G. E., & Crystal-Ornelas, R. (2023). Not just for programmers: How GitHub can accelerate collaborative and reproducible research in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 1364–1380. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14108.

Short Title: SORTEE Infographic Tools

Led by: Malgorzata (Losia) Lagisz, Szymon Drobniak, Samantha Burke, Bawan Amin

Type: Resource Development; Year Started: 2021; Status: Finished (continued in 2022 as another hackathon)

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to create visual educational and outreach materials for SORTEE, focusing on infographics related to preprints, registration, guidelines, workflows, and questionable research practices. Before the hackathon, an information package was prepared, including introductory materials on infographic design and a survey to assess participant skills and contributions. During the event, participants were divided into small groups to draft infographics which were later professionally edited.

Skills Required: Anyone could participate, and no special skills were required.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Hackathon participants were not expected to produce final publication-quality infographics. After the event, facilitators coordinated revisions and selected drafts for finalization. All contributors were asked to complete CRediT statements, which were made publicly available alongside the final infographics.

Outputs: A set of infographics hosted on the SORTEE website.

Short Title: Reproducibility of ecological results

Led by: Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, Antica Culina, Simon Evans (currently also: Marija Purgar)

Type: Resource Development & Education; Year Started: 2021, repeated in 2022; Status: Ongoing

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon(s) aimed to test whether open code increases the computational reproducibility of published findings. For that, each participant was asked to try to computationally reproduce the results of a provided ecological article. The subset of articles corresponded to articles previously identified to have provided both data and code by Culina et al. (2020). Each article was assigned to at least two participants, one time the participant would have access to both the data and code, and one time the participant would only have access to the data. Participants will be offered a co-authorship on a resulting paper.

Skills Required: Basic knowledge of one of the main statistical packages used in the subset of ecological studies that we will attempt to reproduce (namely R or Python) and be highly motivated about the hackathon.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Participants will be offered to contribute to the writing of this manuscript after the first draft is ready. We have recently finished cleaning up the data and have started drafting a manuscript.

Outputs: TBA.

Short Title: Peer Code Review Rubric Development

Led by: Saras Windecker Year Started: 2021 Type: Resource Development; Status: Finished (continued in 2022 as another hackathon and SORTEE Code Club)

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to develop a model for peer code review in ecology and evolutionary biology. Participants worked to create a rubric for peer code review, along with guidelines for its use. The hackathon also explored ways to formalize peer code review processes, inspired by software code review practices such as those used by ROpenSci.

Skills Required: Anyone with an interest in promoting peer code review was welcome to participate.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Participants had the opportunity to continue collaborating after the hackathon to further develop and promote the peer code review rubric.

Outputs: A peer code review rubric OSF Project Page and a blog post SORTEE Blog.

2022

Short Title: Guidelines for Peer Code Review

Led by: Saras Windecker, Ed Ivimey-Cook Type: Resource Development and Education; Year Started: 2022; Status: Finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to revise and expand a draft set of guidelines for peer code review. Participants worked with an existing draft protocol and an example script to conduct a peer code review. They then revised the protocol based on feedback and discussions, expanding it to include detailed guidelines for implementing peer code review. The session built upon previous work from a similar SORTEE program, with the goal of contributing to a future manuscript.

Skills Required: Participants needed familiarity with coding (preferably in R) and the peer review process.

Additional Work & Outcomes: The hackathon provided hands-on experience and an opportunity to contribute to an ongoing research effort. Participants who wished to continue collaborating after the event could co-author the resulting manuscript.

Outputs: a peer-reviewed manuscript - Ivimey-Cook ER, Pick JL, Bairos-Novak KR, Culina A, Gould E, Grainger M, Marshall BM, Moreau D, Paquet M, Royauté R, Sánchez-Tójar A, Silva I, Windecker SM. (2023). Implementing code review in the scientific workflow: Insights from ecology and evolutionary biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 36(10), 1347-1356. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.14230.

2023

Short Title: Open Code and Data Practices During Peer Review

Led by: Edward Ivimey-Cook, Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, Nick Moran Type: Resource Development & Education; Year Started: 2023; Status: Finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to investigate journal policies on data and code sharing during the peer review process. Participants gathered publicly available information from journal websites or directly contacted journals for details on their policies. The event began with an introduction to the topic and its importance, followed by breakout groups focusing on data collection.

Skills Required: Anyone was welcome to participate, regardless of prior experience.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Participants collaborated on designing a database to compile journal policies on data and code sharing during and after publication. The hackathon laid the groundwork for a future publication on open science practices in peer review. Those who actively engaged during or after the hackathon via Slack or Google Docs were included as authors.

Outputs: Preprint manuscript - Ivimey-Cook, E., Sánchez-Tójar, A., Berberi, I., Culina, A., Roche, D., Almeida, R., Amin, B., Bairos-Novak, K., Balti, H., Bertram, M., Bliard, L., Byrne, I., Chan, Y.-C., Cioffi, W., Corbel, Q., Elsy, A., Florko, K., Gould, E., Grainger, M., … Moran, N. (2025). From Policy to Practice: Progress towards Data- and Code-Sharing in Ecology and Evolution. EcoEvoRxiv.https://doi.org/10.32942/X2492Q.

Short Title: The First 1000 EcoEvoRxiv Preprints: Did They Get Published and Where?

Led by: Shinichi Nakagawa, Daniel Noble, Malgorzata (Losia) Lagisz

Type: Research; Year Started: 2023; Status: Finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to map the content of the first 1000 preprints on EcoEvoRxiv and quantify how many remain unpublished. Participants compiled a spreadsheet of relevant data, including links to preprints, and analyzed trends in preprint publication rates in ecology and evolution.

Skills Required: Anyone could participate—no special skills were needed.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Data collection was expected to be largely completed during the hackathon, with follow-up coordination via Slack. The organizers took charge of writing, with contributions from participants in data collection, manuscript outlining, editing, and commenting.

Outputs: A peer-reviewed manuscript - Noble DWA, Xirocostas ZA, Wu NC, Martinig AR, Almeida RA, Bairos-Novak KR, Balti H, Bertram MG, Bliard L, Brand JA, Byrne I, Chan YC, Clink DJ, Corbel Q, Correia RA, Crawford-Ash J, Culina A, D’Bastiani E, Deme GG, de Souza Leite M, Dhellemmes F, Dimri S, Drobniak SM, Elsy AD, Everingham SE, Gascoigne SJL, Grainger MJ, Hossack GC, Hovstad KA, Ivimey-Cook ER, Jones ML, Kačergytė I, Küstner G, Leibold DC, Mair MM, Martin J, Mizuno A, Moodie IR, Moreau D, O’Dea RE, Orr JA, Paquet M, Parajuli R, Pick JL, Pottier P, Purgar M, Recio P, Roche DG, Royauté R, Shafiei Sabet S, Segovia JMG, Silva I, Sánchez-Tójar A, Soares BE, Szabo B, Takola E, Thoré ESJ, Timilsina B, van Dis NE, Verberk WCEP, Vriend SJG, Wild KH, Williams C, Yang Y, Nakagawa S, Lagisz M. (2025). The promise of community-driven preprints in ecology and evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 292(2039), 20241487. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1487.

Short Title: Are Membership Fees of Learned Societies Equitable?

Led by: Malgorzata (Losia) Lagisz

Type: Research; Year Started: 2023; Status: Finished

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to survey the membership policies of learned societies in ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) to assess equitable access. Participants provided structured feedback on the survey protocol before beginning data collection using online forms. The survey targeted 18 key international EcoEvo societies, leveraging insights from a previous project on research awards initiated at SORTEE 2022. Data collection and analysis continued after the hackathon, leading to a collaboratively written manuscript.

Skills Required: No specialist skills were required. The topic was particularly relevant to young researchers from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds or institutions with limited funding.

Additional Work & Outcomes: The hackathon facilitated discussions on inequalities and barriers in scientific membership access, promoting collective action and providing training in transparent and impactful meta-research. Collaboration continued online via emails, Slack, and Zoom, with structured contributions determining co-authorship eligibility. Participants needed to extract and cross-check data for at least one society and approve the final manuscript.

Outputs: A peer-reviewed manuscript - Lagisz M, Bairos-Novak KR, Martinig AR, Bertram MG, Mizuno A, Shafiei Sabet S, Paquet M, Santana MS, Thoré ESJ, Trubanová N, Rutkowska J, Orr JA, Takola E, Yang Y, Pottier P, Gomes DGE, Chan YC, Xian Z, Akogwu CO, Drobniak SM, Nakagawa S. (2025). Priced out of belonging? Insufficient concessions on membership fees across international societies in ecology and evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 292(2040), 20241430. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1430.

2024

Short Title: Do Learned Societies Proliferate and Diversify Their Awards?

Led by: Malgorzata (Losia) Lagisz, Shinichi Nakagawa

Type: Research; Year Started: 2024; Status: In Progress (data collection)

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to explore whether learned societies in ecology and evolution are diversifying their awards. Participants provided structured feedback on the data collection protocol before contributing to data gathering through online forms. Expressions of interest were collected from attendees who wanted to continue collaborating beyond the hackathon. After the event, participants were invited to asynchronously collect and analyze data in an online environment. The findings and recommendations will be collaboratively written into a manuscript for publication. This project builds upon similar research efforts from the SORTEE 2022 and 2023 hackathons, using a structured framework for equitable and effective collaboration.

Skills Required: No specialist skills were required. The topic was accessible to researchers at all career stages worldwide.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Data collection and analysis are ongoing, with further collaboration taking place asynchronously.

Outputs: A manuscript (in progress).

Short Title: Diversity of DEI Committees Across International Learned Societies

Led by: Malgorzata (Losia) Lagisz, Shinichi Nakagawa

Type: Research; Year Started: 2024; Status: In Progress (data collection)

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to investigate the diversity of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committees within international learned societies. Participants provided structured feedback on the data collection protocol and submitted Expressions of Interest to join this open, collaborative meta-research project. Following the hackathon, participants were invited to contribute asynchronously by collecting and analyzing data in an online environment. The findings and recommendations will be compiled into a collaboratively written manuscript for publication. This project builds on research from the SORTEE 2022 and 2023 hackathons, following a structured framework for equitable and inclusive collaboration.

Skills Required: No specialist skills were required. The topic was relevant to a broad audience, particularly researchers from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups.

Additional Work & Outcomes: Data collection and analysis are ongoing, with further collaboration taking place asynchronously.

Outputs: A manuscript (in progress).

Short Title: Creating a SORTEE Wikipedia Page

Led by: Tim Parker

Type: Resource Development; Year Started: 2024; Status: On Hold (waiting for more publications about SORTEE)

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to create a draft Wikipedia page for SORTEE. Participants first reviewed Wikipedia’s article creation guidelines before dividing tasks into three areas: Composing sections of text, Identifying relevant citations, Importing content into a Wikipedia draft article.

Skills Required: No specialized skills were required.

Additional Work & Outcomes: The project is currently on hold, awaiting more published references about SORTEE to meet Wikipedia’s notability requirements.

Outputs: A draft Wikipedia page for SORTEE (pending further development and approval).

Short Title: Creating a Code Standard

Led by: Natalie van Dis, Arthur Rodrigues

Year Started: 2024

Status: In Progress

Type: Resource Development

Purpose & Methods: This hackathon aimed to collaboratively develop a Code Standard: a piece of code with accompanying metadata files that can be used as an accessible and easy way to implement Open, Reliable, and Transparent (ORT) practices in your own coding by example. The initiative started as part of **SORTEE’s Code Club**, focused on facilitating the production and reviewing of ORT code in ecology and evolution research. Before the hackathon, a poll was conducted to determine which coding languages to include. A GitHub repository was prepared with example R code from a published ecology/evolution study. During the hackathon, participants were divided into breakout rooms, each focusing on specific aspects of code review based on the 4R’s of code review: Reported, Run, Reliable, Reproducible. Attendees worked together to refine the code and submit improvements via Git. The latest version of the curated ORT code, along with documentation of the curation process, is openly available on GitHub.

Skills Required: Participants needed a GitHub account and experience in coding for scientific analysis. The number of coding languages addressed depended on the available expertise and collected code examples, and ended up being one R script from a published paper.

Additional Work & Outcomes: The project is ongoing, refining the ORT Code Standard further and expanding its accessibility. Once the Code Standard is finished and published on Github, we will write an accompanying paper to reach a wide audience of potential users for this resource in the fields of Ecology and Evolution.

Outputs: GitHub Repository: SORTEE Code Standard and a blog post. Manuscript in preparation.

Other year-round projects

SORTEE members lead collaborative projects that extend well beyond annual SORTEE conferences, usually focused around preparing in-depth documents, such as position statements, evidence reviews, or educational materials. They are usually linked to goals and activities of SORTEE committees, such as Education and Outreach or Advocacy. The list below presents selected examples of such long-term collaborative projects. If you would like to learn more or join, please contact (and join) the relevant SORTEE Committee.

Position Statements, Explanations and Elaborations

Led by: “Advocacy” SORTEE Committee

Type: Resource Development; Year Started: 2024; Status: In Progress (writing)

Purpose & Methods: “Position Statements” are short texts stating official SORTEE position on a given topic related to its mission and values. Accompanying “Explanation and Elaboration” documents are detailed descriptions of the relevant background and evidence. Position Statements will be hosted on the SORTEE website, while Explanation and Elaboration documents will be published on EcoEvoRxiv. This ongoing collaborative work is led by the members of the Advocacy Committee.

Outputs: SORTEE Position on Pre-registration and Registered Reports: Explanation and Elaboration (draft); SORTEE Position on Open Code: Explanation and Elaboration (draft); SORTEE Position Statement: Open Access (draft)

Open Science Primers

Led by: “Education and Outreach” SORTEE Committee and “Member Engagement” SORTEE Committee

Type: Resource Development; Year Started: 2024; Status: In Progress (writing)

Purpose & Methods: This ongoing project aims to produce freely available Open Science Primers tailored to Ecology and Evolutionary biology. This ongoing collaborative work is led by the members of the Membership Engagement Committee.

Additional Work & Outcomes: The project is ongoing, with the FAIR data primer currently being drafted.

Outputs: Open Science Primers for FAIR data in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (in progress).