How to Publish Rigorous Experiments in the 21^st Century

Crises provide an opportunity for the field to take stock, as do the articles in this special issue. Constructive advice for 21^st century publication standards includes appropriate theory, internal validity, and external validity. First, well-grounded theory can produce a priori plausibility, testable logic, and a focus on the ideas involved, all cumulatively informed by meta-analysis across studies. Second, internal validity benefits from both exploratory work and confirmatory analyses on well-powered samples that require systematic detection and principled decisions about data quality. Inferences benefit from manipulated mediation analysis and from careful interpretation without over-claiming. Finally, external validity profits from a variety of exact and conceptual replications, best evaluated by meta-analysis.