Scientific transparency as a touchstone for improving expert evidence law

Materials related to a working paper of the above title. Provisional abstract: This article proposes and examines scientific transparency as a guiding principle for evaluating and improving expert evidence rules and procedures. Many fields of research have seen an increasing emphasis on transparency and have developed novel mechanisms to enhance it. We consider ways in which the ideas and reforms being developed in science reveal gaps in current evidence doctrine and practice, and suggest transparency should be embraced by rulemakers, courts, and expert witnesses. We go on to suggest concrete ways that scientific transparency can be operationalised in legal settings to strengthen expert evidence reliability, reporting, and fairness. In doing so, we also highlight the limits of our proposals.