Mark Rubin

nsf.govOffice of Metascience (OD/OMS)NSF's mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.

New webpage for new NSF Office of Metascience

A typology of defensive anomaly-reduction strategies in scientific practice. From Aubert-Teillaud, @kenzonera.bsky.social, @olivierklein.bsky.social, et al.’s new paper 🔒: doi.org/10.1177/1745... 🔓: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

"Examining these defensive strategies falls within the scope of the psychology of science, an emerging perspective that offers a novel understanding of scientific practice." #PhilSci #AcademicSky #MetaSci #SciSci #Psychology

doi.orgToward a Psychology of Science: A Dynamic Cognitive Model of the Evolution of Scientific Theories - Benjamin Aubert-Teillaud, Kenzo Nera, Aurélien Brest, Olivier Klein, 2026Responding to a recent call for the development of a psychology of science, we examine how scientists manage empirical anomalies, a routine yet consequential ch...

Questionable Research Practices "The clearest surprise is that engagement with open research practices was associated with more admissions... This runs against the expectation implicit in much open-science advocacy." Interesting new work by @andrewdanso.bsky.social and @tuomaseerola.bsky.social

I also liked the important point that: "Reporting at least one practice does not mean using QRPs frequently, systematically, or across a substantial proportion of one’s research" #MetaSci #Methodology

osf.ioEveryone else does it? Self-reported and perceived questionable research practices in music psychologyQuestionable research practices (QRPs) may inflate false-positive rates and have been surveyed in psychology, ecology, and education, but not in music psychology. In a survey, 198 researchers who had ...

Link to the paper: osf.io/preprints/ps... #MetaSci #Methodology

"It may be a mistake to read this as evidence that open practices encourage questionable behaviour."

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ

"Researchers engaged with open science may recognise questionable decisions more readily, having thought harder about methodology; they may be more willing to disclose them; or they may differ in research activity in ways that create more opportunities to encounter the practices we listed."

Mark Rubin reposted

Berna Devezer

@devezer.bsky.social

I truly dislike the term "Questionable Research Practices," most of all because it implies the existence of "Unquestionable Research Practices," which itself would be highly questionable if you think about it.

Mark Rubin reposted

@olivia.science

a few of these guys have me blocked from 2020 on twitter — some have called me names because of this retraction we helped facilitate (see right side "Responses" www.eneuro.org/content/6/6/...) — so I have no idea what they are up to here nor on twitter (because I also do not go there at all), but...

Rob Sica@robsica.bsky.social

👻"the moral panic used to justify preregistration to begin with is largely manufactured and not evidentiary"

theapologeticprofessor.substack.comI’ve Read the Evidence People Sent Me In Favor of Preregistration. Here’s My Response.It moved the needle a little bit, but not enough for me to grant preregistration the central place its proponents believe it should have.

Mark Rubin reposted

Rob Sica

@robsica.bsky.social

👻"the moral panic used to justify preregistration to begin with is largely manufactured and not evidentiary"

"(1) the moral panic used to justify preregistration to begin with is largely manufactured and not evidentiary, (2) there is more evidence that stereotype threat is real than there is that preregistration passes its own manipulation check,...."

"(4) a lot of their arguments boil down to he said/she said declarations of 'normative power' that are not persuasive at all, and..."

"(5) they have created a very stifling, cult-like atmosphere where it is hard for empiricists like me to work." #MetaSci

@jacobmontgomery.bsky.social

"(3) the primary evidence the preregistration crowd puts forward is not based in the right metric to evaluate science — and they seem curiously disinterested in providing the right tests,...."

Mark Rubin reposted

Jacob Montgomery

For many years I have been unhappy with the discourse around preregistration. Not because I disagree with the idea, but because there are parts of it that just didn’t make full sense to me. New paper with Zion Little and Keith Schnakenberg tries to work them out. 🧵

Keith Schnakenberg@keithschnak.bsky.social

Everyone stop what you're doing and read my paper with @jacobmontgomery.bsky.social and Zion Little modeling preregistration as pre-play cheap talk. We ask how preregistration affects behavior like p-hacking when there is no enforcement and plans must be self-enforcing osf.io/preprints/so...

osf.ioPreregistration as Cheap Talk: The Logic and Limits of Self-Enforcing Plans in Scientific ResearchPreregistration has become increasingly prominent across scientific disciplines, with proponents claiming it reduces selective reporting and improves research credibility. Yet its logic is puzzling. ...

Mark Rubin reposted

Keith Schnakenberg

@keithschnak.bsky.social

Some notable examples of long-standing errors in science from Douglas Allchin’s new article: “When is science ‘self-correcting’?”: doi.org/10.1016/j.sh... Few quotes follow…

“Replications do not necessarily reveal errors, especially if the original errors are themselves replicated.” “As Walter Gilbert once cautioned, ‘artifacts are very, very reproducible’ (Judson, 1980, p. 170).”

“When correction is viewed as portrayed in Fig. 1, one may see similarities to the general dynamics of an adaptive system, such as the immune response or natural selection (e.g., Lewontin, 1970; Plotkin, 1997), sometimes viewed as “corrective” in nature.” #Methodology #PhilSci #MetaSci #AcademicSky

Some notable examples of long-standing errors in science from Douglas Allchin’s new article: “When is science ‘self-correcting’?”: doi.org/10.1016/j.sh... Few quotes follow…

“One might well imagine that, once an error was found and corrected, other scientists would avidly welcome the news and the remedy. Not always so. One can cite numerous cases where an error correction was, ironically, rejected by the community, sometimes for decades (Table 2).”

link.springer.comThe limits of critical thinking: climate skepticism, epistemic trespassing, and the understanding that grounds trust - European Journal for Philosophy of ScienceWhat should the public understand about climate change to form true beliefs and responsibly participate in democratic deliberation? We argue for a partly negative and partly positive answer. Negativel...

"It is the social organization of inquiry, its peer review, organized skepticism, and correction of error, all of which make science reliable." #PhilSci #STS

Rob Sica@robsica.bsky.social

🎯"the proper object of public understanding must shift from first-order scientific literacy to understanding the social epistemology of science... the autonomy the public must maintain is not the autonomy to evaluate science, but to understand and assess the institutions that produce it"

Mark Rubin reposted

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ

@olivia.science

Thanks for posting about this @markrubin.bsky.social — see full proposal here: Hutmacher, F., Guest, O., Rubin, M., & Wendt, A. N. (2026). Special issue proposal: A (critical) metascience perspective on psychological theories and theorizing. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Uljana Feest@ufeest.bsky.social

Excited about the CfP about effect heterogeneity and @markrubin.bsky.social @olivia.science @fabianhutmacher.bsky.social's project project on psychological theories, both of which are closely related to issues I work on! #metascience #psychology #philsci

markrubin.substack.comCall for Papers on Effect Heterogeneity, Proposal for Special Issue on Psychological Theories, and the Metascience 2027 ConferenceCritical Metascience

Mark Rubin reposted

Uljana Feest

@ufeest.bsky.social

markrubin.substack.comCall for Papers on Effect Heterogeneity, Proposal for Special Issue on Psychological Theories, and the Metascience 2027 ConferenceCritical Metascience

Mark Rubin reposted

Dr Nick

@nmwilkinson.eurosky.social

New paper! Accepted at Perspectives on Psychological Science. A textbook finding in infant psychology is that newborns - within ~1 hour of birth - visually track a simplified 'three blob' facelike stimulus further than its inverted control (see picture). This suggested inborn knowledge of faces!

Dr Nick@nmwilkinson.eurosky.social

ok the editorial and publication process is taking too long, so here is link to the accepted manuscript for our systematic review of the newborn face preference literature. it unearths a rather strange tale. check it out, any thoughts much appreciated www.researchgate.net/publication/...

researchgate.net(PDF) Is there an innate face detection module in the human newborn? A systematic review, meta- analysis and theoretical examination of the newborn face preference and its implicationsPDF | Reports of 'newborn face preference' are widely cited as evidence for an innate face detector, yet the literature has not been systematically... | Find, read and cite all the research you need o...

Mark Rubin reposted

Calvin Lai

@calvinklai.bsky.social

💡I’m recruiting a Social Psychology PhD student at Rutgers for Fall 2027 to study how to reduce prejudice and discrimination. More info about my lab, the Diversity Science Lab, can be found at: www.calvinklai.com Please share this post widely and with students who might be a great fit!

dynamicecology.wordpress.comIt’s time to do away with minor revisions, major revisions, and rejection with resubmission permittedNote from Jeremy: Trying an experiment today. Usually when I bang out out a post when I’m annoyed, I rewrite it once I’ve calmed down and then publish it. Instead, here’s the Anno…

"Reject With Invitation to Resubmit" “I don’t know if this is all down to journals gaming their metrics, rejecting lots of mss quickly in order to have high ‘rejection’ rates and quick times to ‘final’ decision... But whatever the reason(s), it’s all become a pointless charade.” #AcademicSky

Mark Rubin reposted

Ole Jensen

@olejensen.bsky.social

Exciting Associate Professor opportunity in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, with access to state-of-the-art neuroimaging and stimulation at OHBA/OxCIN: MEG, OPM, 3T/7T MRI, TUS, TMS & more. Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSQ831/a...

jobs.ac.ukAssociate Professorship of Experimental Psychology at University of OxfordSearching for an academic job? Explore this Associate Professorship of Experimental Psychology opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Mark Rubin reposted

Dan Goodman

@neural-reckoning.org

Thinking about and studying the way science functions and how it could do better is important work. It's amazing that the UK has a specific metascience unit to do this. But what a shame that instead of doing so they're investing in projects to study how AI can automate research evaluation.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

'The UK Metascience Unit is funding a cohort of research projects, each focused on how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to measure different aspects of research quality, including originality, rigour, and societal impact. This document explains the rationale behind these investments.'

ukri.orgMetascience investment explainer on AI-driven research evaluationThis document explains why the UK Metascience Unit is funding research projects that explore how AI can be used to measure research quality.

@paulnightingale.bsky.social

Mario Weick and team launched Durham University's Centre for Behavioural Science today with guest speakers Jez Groom, Dominic Abrams, and Richard Crisp. @durhampsych.bsky.social www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

Mark Rubin reposted

Paul Nightingale

The UK has signed up to the vision for a "Golden Age of Science". I was teaching about this exact topic on Tuesday in SPRU 1.01. Needles to say I have some thoughts. 1) I'm not sure about the diagnosis. Science isn't broken. It has problems but overall ... www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...

whitehouse.govwhitehouse.gov

Preregistration Authors see benefits but "concerns persist regarding limited perceived added value (e.g., unnecessary bureaucratization, increased workload), unintended side-effects (increased costs, discouragement of exploratory work), and reduced analytical flexibility." doi.org/10.1186/s410...

tandfonline.comAs If We Had Minds: The Prospects of Mental FictionalismExplore the article collection: As If We Had Minds: The Prospects of Mental Fictionalism. Published in Philosophical Psychology.

"Even if people do not literally have beliefs and desires, it is useful (perhaps even inevitable) for us to talk as if they do." Tamás Demeter & @adamtoonphilos.bsky.social introduce a special issue on mental fictionalism. #Psychology #PhilSky

Philosophical Psychology@journalphp.bsky.social

New issue, new thread! Adam Toon and Tamás Demeter present "As If We Had Minds: The Prospects of Mental Fictionalism", with sixteen papers (nine are open or free access). Follow the thread to learn more! www.tandfonline.com/... #philsky

New working paper of mass reproducibility in psychological science by Brodeur, Baki, & Fazio finds: “84% of preregistered articles deviate from their pre-analysis plan, and nearly half of these deviations go unacknowledged.” Open Access: www.econstor.eu/handle/10419...

“Our analyses thus contribute to a growing literature documenting the limited clarity of pre-analysis plans in the social sciences and the prevalence of undocumented deviations from preregistration (Brodeur et al., 2024; Franco et al., 2016; Ofosu and Posner, 2023).” #MetaSci #Methodology

link.springer.comPrior Information in Frequentist Research Designs: The Case of Neyman’s Sampling Theory - Journal for General Philosophy of ScienceWe analyse the issue of using prior information in frequentist statistical inference. For that purpose, we scrutinise different kinds of sampling designs in Jerzy Neyman’s theory to reveal a variety o...

"In the design-based approach, the inference scheme ... [relies] on the sampling design that determines selection probabilities ascribed to sampling units, while in the model-based approach, the inference scheme does not require a sampling design."

Dr Mircea Zloteanu 🍂 🍃@mzloteanu.bsky.social

#statstab #631 Prior Information in Frequentist Research Designs: The Case of Neyman’s Sampling Theory Thoughts: Model-based v design-based problem. This should be discussed more. #modelbased #designbased #sampling #priors #neyman #frequentist #bayesian link.springer.com/article/10.1...

“Instead of asking researchers to always report as many control variables as possible, it is more effective to report only a few that are considered statistically relevant to the target and explicitly justify them as such.”