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Publications are commonly used to evaluate PhD students’ aptitude and have the appeal of a single, ‘objective’ measure. A collection of World Views in this issue, however, suggests that this creates only an illusion of true meritocracy. Not only assessments but PhD training per se require substantive improvements to benefit science and scientists.
The publication of our first two Registered Reports marks a major milestone for Nature Human Behaviour. These studies demonstrate what many researchers know, but is often hidden from the published literature: confirmatory research doesn’t always confirm the authors’ hypotheses.
Studies that focus on individual-level decision-making and barriers provide valuable insight into immigrant experiences and have the potential to inform policies and improve outcomes.
Behavioural interventions leverage knowledge from basic research to improve important aspects of life, such as healthy eating. Nature Human Behaviour is committed to working with researchers to disseminate the findings from such important intervention studies as broadly as possible.
Publication bias threatens the ability of science to self-correct. It’s time to change how null or negative findings are perceived and offer incentives for their publication.
Participatory knowledge creation on platforms such as Wikipedia has revealed the enormous democratizing potential of the Internet. It has also exposed its limitations.
Understanding how humans behave, why we behave the way we do, what the consequences of our behaviour are and how behaviour can change are complex, multi-faceted questions, addressed by numerous diverse disciplines that rely on different methods and types of data. We welcome them all in the journal.
As adoption of registered reports is growing, two pieces in this issue take stock, providing recommendations and outlining next steps. We complement these pieces with practical advice on how to prepare a successful stage 1 submission.
Replication studies determine both the validity of scientific conclusions and provide insights into the type of methods and reporting that are necessary for robust results.
The scientific community needs to engage actively in the debate regarding the status of video game loot boxes and the potential risks they present for vulnerable populations.
Human beings are a social species that relies on cooperation to survive and thrive. Understanding how and why cooperation succeeds or fails is integral to solving the many global challenges we face.
Recent updates to the NIH clinical trials policies have caused a heated debate led by affected scientists. By broadening the debate to include diverse stakeholders within and outside the United States, we learn that the steps the NIH takes are in the right direction, but further adjustments are needed to ensure that the policy’s goals are met.
From inception to publication, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research faces distinct challenges. We are committed to enabling such research through a fair and principled peer review process.
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences this year, in honouring the work of Richard H. Thaler, highlights the growing impact of behavioural economics in science and policy.
A paper in this issue identifies a persistent influence of irrelevant information in social contexts, which results in biased and unfair judgements. These widespread social biases can be insidious as they inadvertently enter research and policy.
