Open science practices in criminology and criminal justice journals

Objective

Calls for more transparent and replicable scientific practices have been increasing across scientific disciplines over the last decade, often referred to as the open science movement. Open science practices are arguably particularly important in fields like criminology and criminal justice where empirical findings aim to inform public policy and legal practice. Despite favorable views of these practices by criminal justice scholars, limited research has explored how often researchers actually use these open science practices.

Method

The current study measures the reported use of pre-registration, open access, open materials, open data, and open code in leading criminology and criminal justice journals from 2018 to 2022.

Results

Our results reveal limited use of open science practices, particularly pre-registration and open code.

Conclusions

Given these findings, we call for both journals and authors to consider adopting these practices to move toward a more transparent and replicable field.