No Room at the Inn? The Case for Dedicated Replication Journals.

Reed, W. R., Röseler, L., Saam, M., Wallrich, L.

Abstract

Replication is widely recognized as essential for scientific self-correction, yet published replications remain exceedingly rare in both economics and psychology. At the same time, large-scale collaborative replication efforts and growing attention to research transparency have revealed widespread reproducibility failures across empirical research. This article reviews evidence on the scarcity of published replications, examines why traditional journals continue to resist publishing them, and evaluates the “first-best” proposal that journals should publish replications of their own articles. It then surveys alternative models that journals have adopted, such as dedicated replication sections and special replication issues, and considers their limitations in overcoming structural barriers to replication. Because these approaches have not meaningfully expanded the publication of replications, the article argues that dedicated replication journals offer an essential and complementary solution. By providing a stable, credible, and visible home for replication work, these journals supply critical infrastructure for the self-correcting function of science.