Computational social science is growing up: why puberty consists of embracing measurement validation, theory development, and open science practices

EPJ Data Science

Table 1 Overview of Recommendations

Category	Recommendation
Privacy	Establish clear and comprehensive informed consent procedures, informing participants about specific types of (passive-measurement) data being gathered, the potential privacy risks involved, and how to reduce those risks
Objectivity	Establish transparency about decisions taken during the research process that might affect the objectivity and provide analyses that support the robustness of the reported findings
Measurement	Conduct validity and reliability studies of frequently used measures in CSS
Measurement	Discuss reliability and validity indicators of in measurements sections
Theory	Include an argumentation and discussion about the theoretical mechanisms of an investigated statistical relationship.
Theory	Invest in the development and (empirical and conceptual) testing of theories.
Conceptualization	Provide definitions of key concepts in the introduction section of research articles.
Conceptualization	Discuss the match between the concept definition and its measurement in empirical articles.
Open Science Practices	Engage in the adoption and reward of open science practices (i.e., open data, open code, open access).
Boundary Definitions	Rebranding CSS as an interdisciplinary research field that aims to understand and explain human behavior in digital social spheres.