Preregistering Research

The benefit of openness is that it provides the information required for other researchers to access your research and judge this for themselvesDr Hannah Fraser, Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, The University of Melbourne.*


About preregistration

Preregistering a study or research project allows for greater transparency and reproducibility. It also lets others know you are working on a topic, reducing the duplication of research and opening up opportunities for collaboration.

A preregistration is a detailed description of a study plan, including hypotheses, data collection procedures, and an analysis plan. It is created and publicly registered before the study has been undertaken, providing transparency to your research and ensuring reproducibility.

Preregistering research has tended to be quite discipline-specific, with most registrations coming from the health sciences, especially psychology, although other hypothesis-driven scientific and medical fields are seeing an uptake in the practice.


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Registries

Preregistrations are made open in a registry, where they are timestamped upon registration and cannot be changed, although revised versions can be added.

Where to register your research will depend on a number of factors, including your discipline and the type of study being conducted.

Prominent multidisciplinary registries include:

  • OSF Registries. Run by the Centre for Open Science, OSF Registries is the most widely used repository for preregistering studies. Various templates are available for different kinds of preregistrations.
  • AsPredicted. AsPredicted is a preregistration platform created by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Credibility Lab, integrating with their ResearchBox platform.
  • protocols.io. A platform designed specifically for the preregistration of protocols and methods.
    Although long practised by certain disciplines, particularly psychology and other health sciences, preregistration is becoming increasingly common across all disciplines.

For some disciplines, a subject-specific registry might be the best fit. For example:

  • PreReg in Psychology. A long-running discipline-specific registry provided by the Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID).
  • AEA RCT Registry. The American Economic Association’s Randomized Controlled Trials Registry is open to RCTs in economics, political science, and social science from anywhere in the world.

Creating a preregistration

Preregistrations come in many forms, depending on discipline and the kind of study being undertaken. But whatever the discipline, and whatever form the preregistration takes, it should:

  • Clearly describe the research questions and hypotheses. Hypotheses should be numbered and clearly addressed in the analysis plan. All terms and variables should be described, as should the study’s scope, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and underlying assumptions.
  • Contain sufficient detail to be reproducible. The study design’s methods section and analysis plan should each contain enough detail that another researcher could reproduce the study using the preregistration alone. This means clear step-by step protocols with as much detail as possible, as well as description on how to interpret the data collected.
  • Provide metadata that makes it discoverable. At a minimum this includes a clear title, abstract/description, and the names of lead researchers. Providing keywords or subject headings will also aid discoverability.

Major registries often contain their own advice for creating robust preregistrations. See, for example:



Preregistering clinical trials

There are specific processes and requirements in place for the preregistration of clinical trials. Preregistering clinical trials makes important information about the trials available to participants before they register and ensures that trials are not duplicated unnecessarily.

Many countries mandate the preregistration of clinical trials. In Australia, we require the preregistration of certain clinical trials involving human participants (National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, 2007, updated 2018).


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Where and how to register clinical trials

Australia’s primary clinical trial registry is the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), which feeds records into the World Health Organisation’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). Another prominent clinical trial registry is ClinicalTrials.gov, a US site listing clinical trials in the US and in other countries, including Australia.

Responsibility for preregistration typically falls on the clinical trial’s sponsor. Since clinical trial registrations should be available prior to the enrolment of the first participant, it is best to complete preregistration at least two months before recruiting, as this process can take time.

At the University of Melbourne, clinical trials support is available through the Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical and Health research hub (MISCH). For more information, see the Government’s Australian Clinical Trials website.



Registered Reports

When a preregistration or study design is submitted to an academic journal for peer review, it becomes part of a Registered Report. Registered Reports were pioneered in 2012 to counter publication bias and questionable research practices.


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A Registered Report usually comprises two components:

  1. Registered Report Protocol. The peer reviewed study design, including an introduction (with the research question and hypotheses), methods, and analysis plan. If necessary, pilot data may be included. The peer-reviewed study design might be published in the journal, uploaded to a registry, or embargoed until the article is published.
  2. Registered Report Research Article. Acceptance of the Protocol includes in-principle acceptance of the resulting Research Article. This final article will include the study's results, discussion, and conclusion. This output is also peer reviewed, primarily based on adherence to original study design.

Diagram showing peer review process for Registered Reports, with stage 1 after the study is deigned, and stage 2 after the report is written.

Preparing and submitting a Registered Report

Over 300 journals now publish Registered Reports, either regularly or in special issues. For more information, including a growing list of journals that publish Registered Reports, see the Centre for Open Science website.

When preparing study design for submission, it is important to pay close attention to the journal’s submission guidelines for Registered Reports. These will often require the use of specific formats or templates, set out the expectations of the journal’s editors, and describe the publication process.

Consider these examples of journal-specific submission guidelines:

In general, editors will want to see a sound and robust study design that includes sufficient detail for the study to be replicated.



Further support

See the Open Research Guide for more information on how to register a study, trial, or report.

Contact the Scholarly Communications team for more information and support in preregistering your research.

* ​Read more about Dr Hannah Fraser's experience with open research: "How to produce robust, reliable and open research" (21/10/2021).

Registered Report workflow diagram by Centre for Open Science, licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.



Page last updated 27 January 2025.


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