Good News | Professor Xiaotian Wang s Research Team Publishes in APA s Flagship Journal American Psychologist

On January 30, 2025, a study by Professor Xiaotian Wang’s team was published online in the prestigious journal American Psychologist (Impact Factor: 12.3, 5-year Impact Factor: 16.2). The first author of the paper is Zheng Liu, a Ph.D. student in Applied Psychology (cohort 2022) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), and the corresponding author is Professor Xiaotian Wang. The other authors include Zhonghan Wang, Weijin Yan, and Mengzhen Hu from the research team. Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001503

About the Journal

American Psychologist, established in 1946, is the flagship peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the American Psychological Association. It is widely considered one of the most authoritative and influential journals in the global psychology field, publishing current and timely high-impact papers of broad interest.

The Devision of Applied Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) is the only institutional affiliation for this paper. After the article was published online, it quickly sparked widespread discussion among renowned scholars, with various interpretations of the research findings.

About the Research

To address the replication crisis in psychology, researchers have proposed and advocated for new research practices such as pre-registration and registered reports (RRs). Pre-registration involves researchers publicly recording their research design and analysis plans before starting the study. Registered reports, a novel publishing model, require researchers to pre-register their study plans and undergo peer review before data collection. This approach has gradually become one of the recommended forms for publication in psychology and other interdisciplinary journals. However, after decades of promotion, researchers have found that the registered report model still faces many challenges in practical application. One key issue is the lack of sufficient research evidence comparing the academic recognition and public dissemination impact of registered reports with traditional publication models (non-RRs).

In this context, the study used a matching evaluation method, systematically pairing 119 articles from 33 psychology journals (RRs vs. non-RRs) based on the published journal, publication time, and research topic. This is the latest, most rigorous, and comprehensive meta-analysis in this area.

Key Findings

Exploratory analysis revealed that registered reports (RRs) significantly reduced publication bias against non-significant results and demonstrated superior rigor in methods and data transparency compared to matched traditional articles (non-RRs). However, in terms of citation count, RRs were significantly less cited than the matched non-RRs, after controlling for publication time. The effect size was relatively small. After controlling for variables such as null-result reporting, transparency, the numberof studies in an article and length of method and result sections, article title perception, openaccess, and authorship metrics, this significance still held.

At the level of public dissemination, there were no significant differences overall between RRs and non-RRs in terms of Altmetric Attention Scores or Twitter engagement. However, further analysis of cross-level moderation effects showed that the impact factor (5-year) of the journal moderated the Twitter engagement. Specifically, RRs received significantly more Twitter discussion in journals with lower impact factors (less than 4.5).

These findings offer important insights into the current practice of registered reports in psychology. Despite RRs excelling in reducing publication bias and improving transparency, the study observed that RRs do not show a citation advantage over non-RRs. Given that academic recognition and evaluation still primarily rely on traditional metrics, such as citation counts and dissemination impact, this suggests that open science practices need to be complemented by more appropriate metrics for evaluation.

In conclusion, this research reveals potential differences between registered reports and traditional publication models in academic recognition and public dissemination, providing testable hypotheses for future research in the field of open science and contributing to the further development of open science practices.

About the Authors

Zheng Liu (刘铮) is a Ph.D. student in Applied Psychology (Cohort 2022) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), under the supervision of Professor Xiaotian Wang. She obtained an M.Ed. in Educational Psychology from the University of Sydney and a B.Sc. in Psychology from both Australian National University and Southwest University. Her research interests include (but are not limited to): (1) Behavioural decision-making, using machine learning and cognitive modelling to investigate the psychological mechanisms of behavioral decision-making and effective nudging strategies; (2) Social cognition, with a particular interest in how people process information related to themselves and others; (3) meta-research, focusing on the new reforms and practices in the open science movement in psychological science. During her PhD journey, Liu has published multiple academic papers as the first author (including co-first author) in renowned journals such as American Psychologist, Behavior Research Methods, British Journal of Educational Psychology, and Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

About the Professor

X.T. (XiaoTian) Wang (王晓田) is a professor and the founding director of the Applied Psychology division at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), an executive member of the Council of Directors of Guangdong Association of Higher Education, a “high-level foreign expert” endorsed by the People’s Government of Shenzhen Municipality, a fellow of the Psychonomic Society, and professor emeritus at the University of South Dakota. He was a visiting or adjunct professor at Peking University, China Europe International Business School, Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Singapore Management University. His interdisciplinary research interests involve behavioral decision-making, risk perception, and evolutionary psychology. His original tri-reference point theory has advanced the studies of behavioral decision-making and received research attention and further empirical examinations across multiple disciplines. He has published papers in more than 30 professional journals across different disciplines. He co-edited the book Thus Spake Evolutionary Psychologists (Wang & Su, 2011, Peking University Press, Japanese Ed. 2018, University of Tokyo Press) and The Wisdom of Evolution and Rationalities of Decision Making (Wang & Lu, 2016, CENU Press). Citations of his research appear in multiple textbooks and popular media, such as Time magazine online, Wall Street Journal, Science News, and Yahoo News. Professor Wang was the principal investor of multiple research grants sponsored by NSF, the James McDonnell Foundation, the KC Wang Foundation, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China and served as an ad hoc reviewer for the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and serving as Standing Review Board (SRB) Member to the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. He also provided training courses for managers from Panasonic, IBM, China Merchants Bank, China Mobile, Ping-An Insurance, government agencies, and private companies. Since returning to China to work full-time at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) in 2018 as the director of Applied Psychology, working colleagues, he has worked successfully with his colleagues to establish a division with undergraduate, master, and doctoral programs within five years. The psychology programs ranked among the top ten in China’s psychology disciplines in 2024 by Shanghai Ranking (软科). The research achievements of his team have been published in high-impact journals such as Psychological Bulletin and American Psychologist. He was also invited as a keynote speaker at the National Psychology Conference. As the supervisor, he has trained dozens of graduate students and provided outstanding professional talents to society.