Investigating the reproducibility of the social and behavioural sciences

Olivia Miske, Anna Lou Abatayo, Mason Daley, Mirka Dirzo, Nicholas Fox, Noah Haber, Krystal M. Hahn, Melissa Kline Struhl, Brinna Mawhinney, Priya Silverstein, Theresa Stankov, Andrew H. Tyner, Matúš Adamkovič, Shilaan Alzahawi, Saule Anafinova, Eli Awtrey, Erick Axxe, James Bailey, Bert N. Bakker, Akshaya Balaji, Gabriel Banik, František Bartoš, Henk Berkman, Zachariah Berry, Felix S. Bethke, Timothy F. Brady, Nate Breznau, Sara Capitan, Tabaré Capitán, Laura Caquelin, Kent Jason Cheng, William J. Chopik, Gwen-Jiro Clochard, Tom Coupé, Jamie Cummins, Elif Gizem Demirag Burak, Jianhua Duan, Kevin M. Esterling, Thomas R. Evans, Nathan Fiala, James Field, Victor Gay (), Jing Geng, Johanna Gereke, Ilka Helene Gleibs, Amélie Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, Dmitry Grigoryev, Nicholas Gunby, Paul H. P. Hanel, Sanghyun Hong, Sean Dae Houlihan, Nick Huntington-Klein, Kamil Izydorczak, Kristin Jankowsky, Kai Jonas, Pavol Kačmár, Hansika Kapoor, Sebastian Karcher, Marta Kołczyńska, David Kretschmer, Ljiljana Lazarevic, Katelin E. Leahy, Jessica C. Lee, Christopher Limnios, An-Chiao Liu, John Wills Lloyd, Ruben Lopez-Nicolas, Nigel Mantou Lou, Richard E. Lucas, Maximilian Maier, Daniel J. Mallinson, Marcel Martončik, Michael C. McCall, Nikita Mehta, Esteban Méndez, Johannes Michalak, Daniel C. Molden, Faisal Mushtaq, Claudia Neuendorf, Austin Lee Nichols, Gustav Nilsonne, Ernest O’Boyle, Jeewon Oh, Thomas Ostermann, Abiola Oyebanjo, Radoslaw Panczak, Yuri G. Pavlov, Zoran Pavlović, Noemi Peter, Kim Peters, Nathaniel D. Porter, Mariah Purol, Arathy Puthillam, Marco Ramljak, Arran T. Reader, W. Reed (), Jan Philipp Röer, Ivan Ropovik, Alexander O. Savi, Kathleen Schmidt, Landon Schnabel, Eric L. Sevigny, Samuel Shaki, Shishir Shakya, Andrew Soh, Angela Somo, Fatih Sonmez, Eirik Strømland, Jordan W. Suchow, Anna Szabelska, Anirudh Tagat (), Melba Verra Tutor, Karolina Urbanska, Pieter Van Dessel, Elisabeth Julie Vargo, Diem Thi Hong Vo, Victor Volkman, Ke Wang, Aaron L. Wichman, Jamal R. Williams, Fabian Winter, Ferdinand Wintermantel, Nan Zhang, Ignazio Ziano, Cristina Zogmaister, Zorana Zupan, Brian A. Nosek () and Timothy M. Errington
Additional contact information
Olivia Miske: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Mason Daley: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Mirka Dirzo: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Nicholas Fox: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Noah Haber: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Krystal M. Hahn: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Melissa Kline Struhl: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brinna Mawhinney: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Priya Silverstein: University of Coimbra
Theresa Stankov: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Andrew H. Tyner: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Matúš Adamkovič: Slovak Academy of Sciences
Shilaan Alzahawi: Stanford University
Eli Awtrey: University of Cincinnati
Erick Axxe: Hendrix College
Bert N. Bakker: University of Amsterdam
Akshaya Balaji: Monk Prayogshala
Gabriel Banik: Pavol Jozef Safarik University
František Bartoš: University of Amsterdam
Henk Berkman: University of Auckland
Zachariah Berry: University of Southern California
Felix S. Bethke: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
Timothy F. Brady: University of California, San Diego
Nate Breznau: German Institute for Adult Education—Leibniz Institute for Lifelong Learning
Sara Capitan: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Laura Caquelin: Karolinska Institutet
Kent Jason Cheng: University of Massachusetts Boston
William J. Chopik: Michigan State University
Gwen-Jiro Clochard: Osaka University
Tom Coupé: University of Canterbury
Jamie Cummins: University of Bern
Elif Gizem Demirag Burak: University of Oklahoma
Jianhua Duan: University of Canterbury
Kevin M. Esterling: University of California Riverside
Thomas R. Evans: University of Greenwich
Nathan Fiala: University of Connecticut
James Field: West Virginia University
Jing Geng: Virginia Tech
Johanna Gereke: University of Mannheim
Ilka Helene Gleibs: London School of Economics
Amélie Gourdon-Kanhukamwe: Kingston University London
Dmitry Grigoryev: HSE University
Nicholas Gunby: UCMeta
Paul H. P. Hanel: University of Essex
Sanghyun Hong: University of Canterbury
Sean Dae Houlihan: Dartmouth College
Nick Huntington-Klein: Seattle University
Kamil Izydorczak: SWPS University
Kristin Jankowsky: University of Kassel
Kai Jonas: Maastricht University
Pavol Kačmár: Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Faculty of Arts
Hansika Kapoor: Monk Prayogshala
Sebastian Karcher: Syracuse University
Marta Kołczyńska: Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences
David Kretschmer: University of Oxford
Ljiljana Lazarevic: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy
Katelin E. Leahy: Michigan State University
Jessica C. Lee: University of Sydney
Christopher Limnios: Providence College
An-Chiao Liu: Utrecht University
John Wills Lloyd: University of Virginia
Ruben Lopez-Nicolas: University of Murcia
Nigel Mantou Lou: University of Victoria
Richard E. Lucas: Michigan State University
Maximilian Maier: University College London
Daniel J. Mallinson: Penn State Harrisburg
Marcel Martončik: University of Jyväskylä
Michael C. McCall: Syracuse University
Nikita Mehta: Monk Prayogshala
Esteban Méndez: Central Bank of Costa Rica
Johannes Michalak: Witten/Herdecke University
Daniel C. Molden: Northwestern University
Faisal Mushtaq: University of Leeds
Claudia Neuendorf: University of Potsdam
Austin Lee Nichols: Central European University
Gustav Nilsonne: Karolinska Institutet
Ernest O’Boyle: Indiana University
Jeewon Oh: Syracuse University
Thomas Ostermann: Witten/Herdecke University
Abiola Oyebanjo: Policy Innovation Center
Radoslaw Panczak: University of Bern
Yuri G. Pavlov: University of Tübingen
Zoran Pavlović: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy
Kim Peters: University of Exeter
Nathaniel D. Porter: Virginia Tech
Mariah Purol: Union College
Arathy Puthillam: Monk Prayogshala
Marco Ramljak: Utrecht University
Arran T. Reader: University of Stirling
Jan Philipp Röer: Witten/Herdecke University
Ivan Ropovik: Charles University
Alexander O. Savi: University of Amsterdam
Kathleen Schmidt: Southern Illinois University
Landon Schnabel: Cornell University
Eric L. Sevigny: Georgia State University
Samuel Shaki: Ariel University
Shishir Shakya: Appalachian State University
Andrew Soh: Ateneo de Manila University
Angela Somo: San Diego State University
Fatih Sonmez: Muş Alparslan University
Eirik Strømland: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Jordan W. Suchow: Stevens Institute of Technology
Anna Szabelska: Psychological Science Accelerator
Melba Verra Tutor: Independent Researcher
Karolina Urbanska: Independent Researcher
Pieter Van Dessel: Ghent University
Elisabeth Julie Vargo: Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education
Diem Thi Hong Vo: UCMeta
Victor Volkman: University of Connecticut
Ke Wang: University of Virginia
Aaron L. Wichman: Western Kentucky University
Jamal R. Williams: UC San Diego
Fabian Winter: University of Zurich
Ferdinand Wintermantel: Zeppelin Universität
Nan Zhang: University of Mannheim
Ignazio Ziano: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Cristina Zogmaister: Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
Zorana Zupan: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy
Brian A. Nosek: Center for Open Science Charlottesville
Timothy M. Errington: Center for Open Science Charlottesville

Nature, 2026, vol. 652, issue 8108, 126-134

Abstract: Abstract Published claims should be reproducible, yielding the same result when the same analysis is applied to the same data1,2. Here we assess reproducibility in a stratified random sample of 600 papers published from 2009 to 2018 in 62 journals spanning the social and behavioural sciences. The authors of 144 (24.0%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 20.8–27.6%) papers made data available to assess reproducibility and, for 38 others, we obtained source data to reconstruct the dataset. We assessed 143 out of the 182 available datasets and found that 76.6 (53.6%, 95% CI = 45.8–60.7%) papers were rated as precisely reproducible and 105.0 (73.5%, 95% CI = 66.4–80.0%) were rated as at least approximately reproducible (within 15% of the original effects or within 0.05 of original P values) after inverse weighting each of the 551 claims by the number of claims per paper. We observed higher reproducibility for papers from political science and economics compared with other fields, for more recent papers compared with older papers and for papers from journals that require data sharing. Implementation of measures to verify that research is reproducible is needed to support trustworthiness in the complex enterprise of knowledge production3,4.

Date: 2026
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Working Paper: Investigating the Reproducibility of the Social and Behavioural Sciences (2026)
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10203-5

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