Despite the seismic shifts of the last couple of decades with the introduction of the internet, scholarly publishing has remained basically unchanged. The Mertonian norms were established in 1942 when science was ‘under attack’, and today science is once more being questioned. It is time to return to our base principles. The open agenda offers a path not only to reproducibility and increased trust in research, but also addresses questions related to research culture, allowing a more diverse and inclusive environment.