Replications in Psychology Research: How Often Do They Really Occur?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Scientific Research

Background:

• Recent controversies highlight concerns about the quality and nature of psychological research.
• The role and frequency of replication in psychological science have become a significant focus of discussion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of replication studies in psychological research published since 1900.
• To determine the rate of replication within psychology and assess the success of these replications.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the complete publication history of the top 100 psychology journals by 5-year impact factor.
• Detailed examination of 500 randomly selected articles to verify the nature of replication studies.

Main Results:

• Approximately 1.6% of all psychology publications used the term "replication."
• Actual replication studies constituted only 1.07% of all publications.
• The majority of identified replications reported findings consistent with original studies (successful replications).
• Replications without author overlap were less likely to be successful.
• The publication rate of replications has shown an upward trend in recent decades, despite systemic biases.

Conclusions:

• While replication is infrequent in psychological science, the majority of published replications are successful.
• Author overlap influences replication success.
• The increasing trend in replication publication suggests a growing emphasis on research reproducibility in psychology.