Registered report
A registered report is a journal article format in which the research question, methods, and analysis plan are peer reviewed before results are known.
What a registered report is
A registered report is a publishing format designed to review the research plan before the results are known. Authors submit the question, hypotheses, methods, sampling plan, and planned analyses. Reviewers and editors judge whether the study is worth doing and whether the design can answer the question.
Stage 1 review
At Stage 1, reviewers evaluate the research question, theory, methods, measures, planned sample size, analysis plan, and feasibility. If the journal gives in-principle acceptance, it is promising to publish the study later as long as the authors follow the approved protocol and the completed work passes final checks.
Stage 2 review
After the study is conducted, authors submit the completed manuscript. Stage 2 reviewers check whether the authors followed the approved plan, whether any deviations are explained, whether analyses are reported clearly, and whether the interpretation matches the evidence. The result can be positive, negative, mixed, or null.
Why it exists
Ordinary publication systems can reward surprising positive results more than careful methods. Registered reports try to reduce publication bias, p-hacking, and hindsight storytelling by moving key evaluation before the outcome is known. The question becomes: is this a good test, not did it produce a publishable result?
How it differs from preregistration
Preregistration records a plan before results are known. A registered report goes further by making that plan part of the journal peer-review process. Reviewers can improve the design before data are collected, and the journal can commit to publishing the completed study even if the main results are not statistically significant.
Where it is useful
Registered reports are especially useful when confirmatory testing matters: experiments, clinical and behavioral studies, psychology, neuroscience, education, ecology, and other fields where flexible analysis and publication bias can distort evidence. They are less suited to purely exploratory work, though exploratory findings can still be reported transparently.
Limits and tradeoffs
The format takes planning and can slow the start of a project. It may be harder for studies that must respond quickly to events, use evolving field conditions, or depend on unpredictable data access. Authors also need to distinguish planned analyses from exploratory analyses without treating exploration as a failure.
Why it matters
Registered reports matter because they change the incentives around publication. By judging a study before results are known, they make careful design, transparent analysis, and null results more visible parts of scientific progress.