Registered Reports

Registered reports are a publication format in which study protocols and analysis plans are peer reviewed and accepted for publication before research is conducted, with the commitment to publish the results regardless of outcome. Introduced in 2013 by the journal Cortex and championed by Chris Chambers, the format inverts the temporal logic of scientific publishing: instead of filtering results after they are known, registered reports filter methodological quality before results exist.

The format directly attacks the structural incentives that produce publication bias and p-hacking. When acceptance is contingent on methodology rather than results, researchers have no incentive to p-hack, selectively report, or file-drawer null findings. The peer review process, applied to protocols rather than manuscripts, evaluates whether the study design can answer the research question — not whether the results are surprising or significant.

Adoption remains limited but growing. Major publishers including Nature, Elsevier, and Springer Nature now offer registered reports in some journals. The format is most widely used in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine — fields most affected by the replication crisis. Critics argue that registered reports are slow, bureaucratic, and ill-suited to exploratory research. Proponents respond that the format does not prohibit exploration; it merely requires that exploratory and confirmatory analyses be clearly distinguished, a transparency standard that should apply to all research regardless of format.