Challenging traditions in research reporting: New journal Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology

Taylor & Francis, the European Association of Social Psychology and the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, are launching an innovative new social psychology journal, Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology (CRSP) which aims to create a paradigm shift in how research is conducted and reported in this field. The editors, Kai Jonas, University of Amsterdam, and Joseph Cesario, Michigan State University, along with the editorial board, will begin reviewing research proposals in late 2014 for the first volume to be published in 2016.

CRSP will be the first social psychology journal to publish only pre-registered papers. The journal will have a strong focus on methodology and transparency in the research process.  Authors will submit their research proposals to the journal and these will be reviewed and accepted on the basis of the proposed methodology. All papers will then be published so long as the studies are conducted and analyzed as agreed in the pre-registered proposal.

By adopting this approach, CRSP aims to publish research in a way that ensures that studies are statistically sound, that results are reported in a comprehensive manner, and that makes later replication easier. The mission of CRSP is also to avoid strategic publication biases, the suppression of non-significant results and hypothesizing after the results are known.

Rohays Perry, Behavioral Sciences Editorial Director at Taylor & Francis says ‘At Taylor & Francis, we are excited to be launching Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology with the European Association of Social Psychology and the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists. As scholarly publishers serving learned academic communities for over 200 years, we’ve seen many changes, but our core role – assisting in the advancement of knowledge – remains the same. The changes in authoring, peer review, and editorial decision-making which Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology represents, although innovative, are in the great tradition of scholarly publishing: finding the best ways to capture, validate and disseminate knowledge.’

CRSP’s Editor, Kai Jonas, says of the journal’s launch, ‘CRSP’s initial publication agreement for registered reports provides a great incentive for researchers to conduct and analyze their research properly. The concept of pre-registration is not new, but innovative within Social Psychology. While other disciplines and journals only devote sections or special issues to this format, Social Psychology puts itself at the forefront by having a journal that does registered reports only. This might turn out to be a real game changer!’

Joseph Cesario, the journal’s co-editor, adds, ‘This is a great opportunity for changing the face of social psychological research. Researchers publishing in CRSP will be leading the way toward a better, more rigorous approach to our science.’

The journal will join Taylor & Francis’s extensive portfolio of over 250 behavioral science journals. Taylor & Francis also publish an extensive range of psychology and behavioral science books under the Psychology Press and Routledge imprints.