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The Replication Crisis and Open Science in Psychology – Progress and Yet Unsolved Problems

A Topical Issue of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000339

Focus of the Topical Issue, Aims, and Scope

As a response to the replication crisis in psychology, the last 6 years witnessed the development and implementation of various standards of open science, most notably replicability projects, pre-registrations, registered reports, open data, reproducible scripts, as well as transparency and openness promotion guidelines for scientific journals. It is yet unclear to what extent the implementation of these methods has changed the way in which psychological research is carried out and what we have learned so far about the stability and generalizability of psychological phenomena. The general goal of this issue is to give a relatively broad overview of

  • what has and what has not yet been achieved,
  • what are still prevailing problems, and
  • whether the aforementioned open science standards have led to new insights about psychological phenomena.

The articles for this topical issue may address, but are not limited to the following topics:

Methodological and statistical issues such as

  • Evidence for p-hacking, questionable research practices (QRPs) and HARKING (hypothesizing after the results are known) over time: What kind of evidence for QRPs, p-hacking, and HARKING exists and what has possibly changed over the course of time?
  • What are methodological key features of successfully replicated studies and what can be learned from that?
  • To what extent do statistical corrections for publication bias and/or for effects of QRPs work?

Conceptual issues such as

  • How and to what extent have open science standards changed journals’ publication policies? Which types of open science requirements have mostly been implemented? How prevalent are open science requirements in psychological journals in general?
  • Quantifiable reactions of the field or subfields toward implemented changes. Examples: Studies on the number of articles with open data since these changes have been implemented. Studies on the differences among disciplines with respect to the speed of implementation of changes.
  • Do the claims of the open science movement hold up? We welcome metascience studies on the effectiveness of open science standards: For example, is there evidence that the implementation of open science standards has led to an increase of statistical power (frequentist statistics) or more evidence (Bayesian statistics)? To what degree do preregistered studies actually follow the preregistered design and analysis?

In accordance with the idea of open science this topical issue will be published open access and be permanently free for everyone to read and download via the journal’s website (www.hogrefe.com/j/zfp/).

How to Submit

There is a two-stage submissions process. Initially, interested authors are requested to submit extended abstracts of their proposed papers. Authors of the selected abstracts will then be invited to submit full papers. All papers will undergo blind peer review.

Stage 1: Structured Abstract Submission

Authors interested in this special issue must submit a structured abstract of the planned manuscript before submitting a full paper. The goal is to provide authors with prompt feedback regarding the suitability and relevance of the planned manuscript to the special issue.

The deadline for submitting structured abstracts is August 15, 2018.

Feedback on whether or not the editors encourage authors to submit a full paper will be given by September 15, 2018.

Submission Guidelines for Structured Abstracts

Structured abstracts should be within four pages and may encompass information on each of the following headings: (a) Background, (b) Objectives, (c) Research question(s) and/or hypothesis/es, (d) Method/Approach, (e) Results/Findings, (f) Conclusions and implications (expected).

Structured abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to both guest editors at

and

There will be an international symposium on “The replication crisis and open science in psychology” on March 12–14, 2019, at ZPID – Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information in Trier, Germany. Authors who are encouraged to submit a full paper will be invited to present their manuscripts at the conference. Further information about the event can be found here: http://openscience2019.leibniz-psychology.org/

Stage 2: Full Paper Submission

For those who have been encouraged to submit a full paper, the deadline for submission of manuscripts is November 15, 2018. Full manuscripts will undergo a blind peer-review process.

Submission Guidelines for Full Papers

Maximum 8,500 words (approx. 60,000 characters, including spaces) in 12-point Times New Roman font, formatted in APA style (http://www.apastyle.org/), A4 paper format, 1-inch margins. Figures should be in grayscale only.

The title page should contain title, authors, and affiliations, including a complete address for correspondence (including e-mail address). An abstract of 150 words or less and a list of up to five keywords should follow the title page.

On page 3 of the manuscript, repeat the title, but not the names, to permit anonymity during the reviewing process. Please do not include any footnotes at the bottom of the pages or at the end of the text.

Timeline

  • August 15, 2018: Extended abstract submissions due
  • September 15, 2018: Feedback to authors of extended abstracts due
  • November 15, 2018: Full paper submissions due
  • November 30, 2018: Invitation to present at conference at ZPID – Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information in Trier, Germany, due
  • February 1, 2019: Feedback to authors of full paper submissions due
  • March 12–14, 2019: International symposium on “The replication crisis and open science in psychology” at ZPID – Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information in Trier, Germany. Further information about the event can be found here: http://openscience2019.leibniz-psychology.org/
  • April 1, 2019: Revised manuscripts due
  • April 30, 2019: Editorial decision about acceptance/refusal of revised papers due
  • May 15, 2019: Final manuscripts due
  • October 2019: Publication of topical issue

About the Journal

The Zeitschrift für Psychologie, founded in 1890, is the oldest psychology journal in Europe and the second oldest in the world. One of the founding editors was Hermann Ebbinghaus. Since 2007 it is published in English and devoted to publishing topical issues that provide state of-the-art reviews of current research in psychology.

For detailed author guidelines, please see the journal’s website at www.hogrefe.com/j/zfp