Reshaping the publication process: Addiction Research & Theory joins Peer Community In Registered Reports

Abstract

This Editorial outlines two Registered Report (RR) formats offered by Addiction Research and Theory (ART): the ‘traditional’ RR route and the new ‘Peer Community in RR’ initiative. In the former, authors submit their study protocol for pre-study peer-review, allowing for assessment and peer feedback regarding the validity of the research questions and the study methodology prior to data collection (or in the case of secondary data, data analysis). High quality proposals then receive In Principle Acceptance (IPA), meaning that the journal commits to publishing the study regardless of its findings, so long as the protocol is followed appropriately, and an evidence-based interpretation of the results is undertaken. In the latter, authors follow a similar workflow, but submit their study protocol through PCI RR; a community driven initiative that reviews and recommends RRs across the full spectrum of STEM, medicine, social sciences, and the humanities. As a ‘PCI RR friendly journal’, ART commits to publishing any recommended articles which receive acceptance via this route, without the need for additional peer review. We hope that these developments will contribute to addiction science more actively adopting open science principles and help mitigate reproducibility concerns within the published literature.