Transparency Guidelines

Methodology (Meth) takes good, transparent, reproducible, and open science very seriously. This means that all published papers will have underwent screening regarding to what extent they have fulfilled Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines. The TOP Guidelines outline eight modular standards that can be implemented at three different levels (with Level I being the least, and Level III the most rigorous option):
Modular Standard Implementation in Methodology Level I Level II Level III
1. Citation Standards Article is not published until providing appropriate citation for data and materials following journal's author guidelines.    
2. Data Transparency Data must be posted to a trusted repository. Exceptions must be identified at article submission.    
3. Code (Analytical Methods) Transparency Code must be posted to a trusted repository. Exceptions must be identified at article submission.    
4. Research Materials Transparency Article states whether materials are available, and, if so, where to access them.    
5. Design and Analysis Transparency Journal articulates design transparency standards.    
6. Preregistration of Studies Article states whether preregistration of study exists, and, if so, allows journal access during peer review for verification.    
7. Preregistration of Analysis Plans Article states whether preregistration with analysis plan exists, and, if so, allows journal access during peer review for verification.    
8. Replication Journal encourages submission of replication studies and conducts results blind review.    

Details About how TOP Standards are Implemented at Methodology

The guidelines summarized above concern any paper published in Methodology that presents empirical data (whether quantitive or qualitative). Data, code, materials, and other documents should be safely and openly stored at the PsychArchives repository. Upon submission of a paper, authors will have to confirm that they have included appropriate statements (e.g., about the availability of data, code, materials, other documents, preregistrations) within their papers, and all papers will be checked regarding their adherence to the journal's adopted TOP standards outlined above. Authors should thus take great care to ensure that their papers meet those standards. Papers that do not meet the standards cannot be published in Methodology.

Citation Standards for Data and Materials

All data, code, scripts, syntax, materials, and other methods must be appropriately cited. As such, these materials are recognized as original intellectual contributions and afforded recognition through citation. Articles will not be published until the citations conform to these standards.

  1. All data sets and program code (e.g., from R scripts) used in a publication must be cited in the text and listed either in a Supplementary Materials or in the general Reference section (like any other reference).
  2. References for data sets and program code must include a persistent identifier (if available), such as a DOI. Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a text or data set. For data sets and code without a DOI, the URL should be included in the reference. 

    Example:

    Lewis, C., & Schoen, R. C. (2022). Improvement of elementary fractions instruction: Randomized controlled trial using lesson study with a fractions resource kit, United States, 2016-2018 (ICPSR 38205; Version V1) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38205.v1