TL;DR: Please support
Registered Reports by becoming a signatory on letters to editors by leaving
your name here.
The current blog post is a continuation of a blogpost
that I wrote half a year ago. Back then, frustrated at the lack of
field-specific journals which accept Registered Reports, I’d decided to start
collecting signatures from reading researchers and write to the editors of
journals which publish reading-related research, to encourage them to offer
Registered Reports as a publication format. My exact procedure is described in
the blog post (linked above).
On the 18th of June, I have contacted 44 journal
editors. Seven of the editors wrote back to promise that they would discuss
Registered Reports at the next meeting of the editorial board. One had already
started piloting this new format (Discourse Processes), and one declined for
understandable organisational reasons. To my knowledge, two reading-related
journals have already taken the decision to offer Registered Reports in the
future: the Journal
of Research in Reading, and the Journal of the Scientific Studies
of Reading. So,
there is change, but it’s slow.
At the same time as I was collecting signatories and sending
emails to editors about Registered Reports, a number of researchers decided to
do the same. A summary of all journals that have been approached by one of us,
and the journals’ responses, can be found here. A few months
ago, we decided to join forces.
First, as a few of us were from the area of
psycholinguistics, we decided to pool our signatories, and continue writing to
editors in this field. The template on which the letters to the editors would
be based can be found here.
Second, we decided to start approaching journals which are
aimed at a broader audience and have a higher impact. Here, our pooled lists
would already contain hundreds of researchers who would like to see more
Registered Reports offered by academic journals. The first journal that we aim
to contact is PNAS: As they recently announced that they will be offering a new
publication format (Brief Reports), we would like to encourage them to consider also
adding Registered Reports to their repertoire. The draft letter to the editor
can be found here.
Third, we also decided to write an open letter, addressed to
all editors and publishers. The ambition is to publish it in Nature News and
Comments or a similar outlet. The draft letter can be found here.
I am writing this blog post, because we’re still on the
lookout for signatories. You can choose to support all three initiatives, or any
combination of them, by taking two minutes to
fill in this Google form. You can also email me directly – whichever is
easier for you. Every signatory matters: from any field, any career stage, any
country. It would also be helpful if you could forward this link to anyone who
you think might support this initiative. I’m also happy to answer any questions,
take in suggestions, or discuss concerns about this format.
No comments:
Post a Comment