Poole Daniel, Linden Audrey, Sedgewick Felicity, Allchin Oliver, Hobson Hannah
University of Sheffield, UK.
Open University, UK.
Autism. 2025 Jun;29(6):1390-1402. doi: 10.1177/13623613241308312. Epub 2024 Dec 25.
Pre-registration refers to the practice of researchers preparing a time-stamped document describing the plans for a study. This open research tool is used to improve transparency, so that readers can evaluate the extent to which the researcher adhered to their original plans and tested their theory appropriately. In the current study, we conducted an audit of pre-registration in autism research through a review of manuscripts published across six autism research journals between 2011 and 2022. We found that 192 publications were pre-registered, approximately 2.23% of publications in autism journals during this time frame. We also conducted a quality assessment of a sample of the pre-registrations, finding that specificity in the pre-registrations was low, particularly in the design and analysis components of the pre-registration. In addition, only 28% of sampled manuscripts adhered to their analysis plan or transparently disclosed all deviations. Autism researchers conducting confirmatory, quantitative research should consider pre-registering their work, reporting any changes in plans transparently in the published manuscript. We outline recommendations for researchers and journals to improve the transparency and robustness of the field.Lay abstractWhen researchers write down their plans for a study ahead of time and make this public, this is called pre-registration. Pre-registration allows others to see if the researchers stuck to their original plan or changed as they went along. Pre-registration is growing in popularity but we do not know how widely it is used in autism research. In this study, we looked at papers published in six major autism journals between 2011 and 2022. We found that only 2.23% of papers published in autism journals had been pre-registered. We also took a close look at a selection of the pre-registrations to check how good they were and if researchers stuck to their plans. We found that the pre-registrations generally lacked specifics, particularly about how the study was designed and the data would be analysed. We also found that only 28% of the papers closely followed the pre-registered plans or reported the changes.Based on these findings, we recommend that autism researchers consider pre-registering their work and transparently report any changes from their original plans. We have provided some recommendations for researchers and journals on how pre-registration could be better used in autism research.
预注册是指研究人员准备一份带有时间戳的文件，描述一项研究的计划。这种开放研究工具用于提高透明度，以便读者能够评估研究人员在多大程度上坚持了他们的原始计划，并适当地检验了他们的理论。在当前的研究中，我们通过回顾2011年至2022年间在六种自闭症研究期刊上发表的手稿，对自闭症研究中的预注册情况进行了审核。我们发现有192篇出版物进行了预注册，约占这一时期自闭症期刊出版物的2.23%。我们还对一部分预注册样本进行了质量评估，发现预注册中的具体程度较低，尤其是在预注册的设计和分析部分。此外，在抽样的手稿中，只有28%的手稿遵循了其分析计划或透明地披露了所有偏差。进行验证性定量研究的自闭症研究人员应考虑对其工作进行预注册，并在发表的手稿中透明地报告计划中的任何变化。我们概述了针对研究人员和期刊的建议，以提高该领域的透明度和稳健性。
当研究人员提前写下他们的研究计划并公开时，这被称为预注册。预注册使其他人能够看到研究人员是否坚持了他们的原始计划，还是在过程中有所改变。预注册越来越受欢迎，但我们不知道它在自闭症研究中的使用有多广泛。在这项研究中，我们查看了2011年至2022年间在六种主要自闭症期刊上发表的论文。我们发现，在自闭症期刊上发表的论文中，只有2.23%进行了预注册。我们还仔细研究了一部分预注册，以检查它们的质量以及研究人员是否坚持了他们的计划。我们发现预注册通常缺乏具体细节，特别是关于研究如何设计以及数据将如何分析。我们还发现，只有28%的论文严格遵循了预注册计划或报告了变化。基于这些发现，我们建议自闭症研究人员考虑对其工作进行预注册，并透明地报告与原始计划的任何变化。我们为研究人员和期刊提供了一些关于如何在自闭症研究中更好地使用预注册的建议。
