On research in psychology: Publication, evaluation, prevention of pathologies of science

Abstract

Is it possible to find any specificity of research carried out by psychologists in their own country, justifying publication also in their native language? The question posed by Brzeziński (2014) requires considering different types of psychological research: studies regarding universal issues have to be diffused in a shared scientific format and in an international language, while studies regarding specific applicative aspects, linked to particular contexts, can be published in a language easily accessible to the psychologists living in a specific country. This kind of research and publication, if conducted with correct methodology, should not be considered of secondary scientific value. As regards the question of what indices should be used to determine a psychologist’s position in world science, I will discuss the assumption of “objectivity” in this kind of evaluation: objectivity is very difficult to obtain using numeric criteria, while pre-determined scientific and teaching criteria and thresholds could be more suitable to achieve a full evaluation for habilitation or for other scientific or academic purposes. As regards reactions to scientific pathologies such as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism of data, meta-analysis based on cumulative research on research could permit to detect unexpected outliers and to discover “file drawer effects,” allowing replications and enhancing respect for scientific rules and ethics.