Easy preregistration will benefit any research

There is shared support by Riley et al., (RRL1) and Wolfe & Kanwisher (WK2) for the principles to “increase transparency, rigor, and reproducibility of science” and “[fulfill] an inherent commitment to study participants and the public”1. These principles are motivating the expansion of NIH Guidelines requiring study registration and outcome reporting into basic science. Prospective study registration (i.e. “preregistration”) distinguishes confirmatory tests of predictions from discoveries resulting from exploration3. Unintentionally conflating these modes of research increases the publishability of findings at the expense of their credibility4. Further, outcome reporting, whether or not the study is ultimately published, addresses publication bias and selective ignoring of null results5. Widespread preregistration and outcome reporting may address key contributing causes of the so-called “Reproducibility Crisis”6, and would increase the interpretability of most empirical research.