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Dear colleagues,

Recently the Journal of Business and Psychology announced the introduction of an alternative review process meant to help address the rising concerns of questionable research practices in our field. On a related note, a special issue of the journal Social Psychology is being published today which adopts a new registered reports format as a way to shift the incentives and increase the credibility of published results. 

Registered reports emphasize the importance of the research question and the quality of methodology by conducting the peer review prior to data collection and analysis. Accepted papers then are virtually guaranteed publication in the journal if the authors follow through with the registered methodology. The special issue of Social Psychology contains 15 papers, all of which are registered reports and all of which were designed to replicate important classic or contemporary results from social psychology.

In the past, I've heard some concerns from colleagues about the pros and cons of registered reports. I think that this special issue may help to illustrate a successful attempt to maximize the benefits while minimizing any disadvantage to this approach.

A press release for the special issue has been provided by the Center for Open Science:

http://centerforopenscience.org/pr/2014-05-19/

Additionally, NPR coverage via Morning Edition can be found here:

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/313844261/why-reporting-on-scientific-research-may-warp-findings

Finally, more information on related topics can be found at the Center for Open Science (http://centerforopenscience.org/) as well as resources for registering reports at the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/).

Best,

George