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Protocol transparency is vital for registered reports

Nature Human Behaviour volume 2, pages 791–792 (2018)Cite this article

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To the Editor — We welcome Hardwicke and Ioannidis’ timely evaluation of the registered reports article type1, now offered at over 120 journals across the life and social sciences (https://cos.io/rr/). Hardwicke and Ioannidis identify two main shortcomings of registered reports: lack of protocol transparency and lack of standardized protocol registration. Both are important issues. Protocol transparency is essential for enabling readers to compare time-stamped, accepted stage 1 protocols with the Introduction and Methods of published stage 2 articles. Standardization of registration helps ensure that published protocols are comprehensible and verifiable. For example, work such as the COMPare campaign is only possible because of the transparency afforded by consistently registered clinical trials2. Here we report the steps we are taking to address these concerns.

Since August 2017, the recommended ‘template’ editorial policy for registered reports at the Center for Open Science has stated that authors must register their stage 1 protocols on a recognized repository at the point of in-principle acceptance, either publicly or under temporary embargo until submission (or acceptance) of the stage 2 manuscript3. Since then, most new adopters have implemented this policy as a matter of course. At the time of Hardwicke and Ioannidis’ analysis, however, of the 70 journals that had adopted registered reports permanently as an available article type, only 50% required protocol registration or routinely published the accepted protocols.

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Fig. 1: Registered reports have to date been launched by 88 journals as a regular article type, not counting an additional 9 journals that are launching imminently, and 27 temporary adoptions as part of journal special issues or initiatives.

References

  1. Hardwicke, T. E. & Ioannidis, J. P. A. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0444-y (2018).

  2. Goldacre, B. et al. The COMPare Trials Project http://compare-trials.org/ (2016).

  3. Registered reports template editorial policy. Center for Open Science https://osf.io/pukzy/ (2018).

  4. Simple registered report protocol preregistration. Center for Open Science http://osf.io/rr/ (2018).

  5. Registered reports: policy on publishing at stage 1 and stage 2. Wiley https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/submission-peer-review/registered-reports-policy.html (2018).

  6. Hummer, L., Nosek, B. & Errington, T. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/5y8w7 (2018).

  7. Scheel, A. M., Henderson, E., Chambers, C. & Lakens, D. Assessment of effect sizes and the prevalence of “positive” results in RRs and preregistered studies. Center for Open Science https://osf.io/zyhf6/ (2018).

  8. Murray, H. Transparency meets transparency. F1000Research Blog https://blog.f1000com/2017/10/12/transparency-meets-transparency/ (2017).

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  10. News and announcements. GRAND Awards Program http://www.grandawardsprogram.org/news/news-and-announcements.html (2017).

  11. First funding cycle of the Drug Discovery Initiative Registered Report (DDIRR) Awards announced. Children’s Tumor Foundation http://www.ctf.org/news/first-funding-cycle-of-the-ddirr-awards-announced (2018).

  12. Tan, F. E., Perfito, N. & Lomax, J. Prostate Cancer Foundation — Movember Foundation Reproducibility Initiative. Center for Open Science https://osf.io/ih9qt/ (2018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CUBRIC, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Christopher D. Chambers

  2. Center for Open Science, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    David T. Mellor

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  1. Christopher D. Chambers
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Correspondence to Christopher D. Chambers.

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Competing interests

C.D.C. is a member of the Advisory Board of Nature Human Behaviour and chair of the Registered Reports Committee supported by the Center for Open Science. D.T.M. is the registered reports project manager at the Center for Open Science.

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Chambers, C.D., Mellor, D.T. Protocol transparency is vital for registered reports. Nat Hum Behav 2, 791–792 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0449-6

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